A Miko's Trial
by GhastlyRevenant
Summary: At the age 17, those born from psychic bloodlines will be put through a year-long trial. During this trial, they are tethered to other souls and are burdened with the responsibility to purify spaces that have been corrupted by vengeful spirits. AU
1. Chapter 1

The long wait has come to an end. Though, I must apologize, since it's my fault this took so long. Just needed a bit of a break! But, now we're back, with the third big project! This one is huge, and though it's still in-progress, there's enough material to last for a long while. We'll be posting these in increments of one per two days, so keep an eye-out!

This is a major AU, where nothing is as you guys are used to. Hope you all enjoy, and it's good to be back!

We do not own the Corpse Party franchise or any of the characters included. We, however, do own original ghost stories and characters mentioned in this story.

* * *

She drew a big black 'X' over September 2nd, sighing lightly as the summer officially came to its end. School started today, and her usual enthusiasm for it was dampened by her upcoming 17th birthday. She only had ten more days of a somewhat normal life before her genetics gave way to the ritual she had no choice but to participate in. Of course, since she had been trained and taught for her entire life, there was some excitement. That was hard to see past the amount of fear and anxiety. Not that anyone would even guess it, the way she went around school and told scary stories like funny anecdotes. No, to most people, Shinozaki Ayumi was fearless of the paranormal.

It was a mask she wore well, but a mask that was not going to become the truth anytime soon.

Ayumi grabbed her school bag, slinging it over her shoulder as she made her way out of her room. She was excited to see her friends again, and who would be in her class this year. She wouldn't mind if things were a little switched up from last year's class, considering not seeing Mochida Satoshi or Nakashima Naomi everyday would be a little nice. Not that Naomi particularly deserved these negatives feelings directed at her. Though, Satoshi did.

"Ah, my baby girl is a Junior. Where has the time gone?" she heard her dad reflecting as she came into the kitchen. She scowled lightly at the word 'baby', grabbing her toast with no plan to engage in conversation with her dad. "C'mon Ayu, don't be so scowly faced. You're gonna have a great year," Ayato assured her with a big grin.

"Maybe," Ayumi remarked as she cut some butter off the stick to put on the still warm bread. "It's ten days, though, y'know, till it all starts."

"Ha, I'd tell you not to worry, but it seems you're going to do that anyways. You'll be great! You'll get rid of all the closed spaces without any problem!" he said as he shoved some eggs into his mouth, his speech continuing past his chewing. "You and your Centurions will clean this city of its entire bad vibes!"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it a million times. I'm not worried, so much as… impatient. I just want to get going, I guess. One full year of purifying closed spaces is a long time. And I guess I feel a little worried about who is going to get dragged into this by being forced into the position of Centurion," she admitted as she munched on her toast thoughtfully.

"I hope you have only girl centurions. It'll be such a bother having boys hanging around you all the time," he said thoughtfully.

"I really hope that is the reason," Ayumi remarked sharply, glaring at her dad. He could be such a creep. "I don't really know what I'm expecting from my Centurions… Bravery, mostly, I guess."

"Don't worry, any Centurion who is chosen will only be given the position if they can handle it," Ayato assured her, his tone confident.

"I certainly hope that's the case," she grumbled as she tossed the rest of the uneaten toast in the trash. She felt her worries leaning most on the Centurions right now, even if the idea of going into a closed space was intimidating. It could literally be anyone she has come in contact with, who knows who will be chosen.

"I swear by it! The spirits would only choose the best for you, baby!" he yelled out excitably, raising his orange juice in the air too fast, so some of its contents splashed onto the table.

"Father is right, Ayumi," Hinoe, her older sister, agreed as she stepped into the room. A calm smile adorned her face as she grabbed a rag and wiped down the table, cleaning up the orange juice spill. "You'll be watched over, so just put your faith that your training will see you through anything," she told her younger sister, putting the dirtied rag aside to give Ayumi a hug.

Ayumi let out a small sigh as she wrapped her arms around her sister. "Right… yeah, it'll all be fine," she said with some uncertainty. She had faith in the spirits, she really did. It was herself that she was questioning.

"You'll be great, Ayumi," Hinoe said quietly to her little sister. She broke the hug and patted her gently on the head. She turned around grabbing a lunch box and handing it to her. "Now, get going. It's never good to be late on the first day."

"But after the first day, be as late as you'd like the rest of the year!" Ayato chimed in with a bellowing laugh. Both girls just stared at their father before directing attention back on one another.

"Thanks, Hinoe. I'll see you after school!" Ayumi said cheerfully to her sister, putting her lunch away. She glanced over at her dad. "Bye, dad," she said in a much flatter tone.

She was out the door before her dad could yell anything else. She glanced back at her home, the shrine looking as good as ever in the sunshine. It really was a lovely place to live, even if the upkeep wasn't so easy. As she exited the shrine, she stopped to look at the twin Komainu statues that stood in front, protecting the shrine. She smiled lightly at them, patting the stone with a light touch. "I really do hope everything will be fine…" she admitted to the inanimate stones. "One whole year… dealing with angry spirits and trying to appease them… I don't know if I can do it. Especially because who knows who will be supposed to act as my protectors… I just don't feel very confident as I let on about all of this,"she vented, only feeling comfortable talking to the mute guardians about her shortcomings. She let out a heavy breath, feeling a little better as a wind picked up and tickled her face.

With the small venting done, she moved away from the shrine. She decided she had ten days until she really needed to address the fact she had to act as a purifier. For now, she was just a normal High School student on her first day to school. She'd give herself ten more normal days of worrying about classmates, school, and student council.

After that?

Well, it was certainly going to be a long year.

* * *

The first day of school's excitement was always contagious. As much as everyone was a bit bummed about the empty summer days passing, seeing classmates again was nice. Shinozaki Ayumi was one of the ones who was instantly happier when inside the school's gate. She loved the energy, the education, the altogether vibe of Kisaragi Academy's High School. During the summer, her Miko training had consumed her life, and she was happy to finally have some other way to spend her time again. She pushed that thought away, though. She had promised herself she wouldn't focus on the upcoming trials until she had to face them. She approached the bulletin board that spread along the wall outside with club posters and announcements strewn about it. She, and her fellow classmates, were more interested in the class listings. It took a while to finally locate her name.

_'Class 2-9, eh?'_ she thought to herself as her interest shifted to her classmates. She felt herself pale as the names 'Mochida Satoshi' and 'Nakashima Naomi' passed her eyes. "Seriously?" she grumbled to herself, her mood dampened by the presence of her ex-boyfriend and the object of his affections. She would rise above... or rather, ignore to the best of her abilities. A whole year stuck in their class... ugh, she should have never gone out with him in the first place. It was stupid to date people you were forced to see after break-ups. She read over the sheet one last time, before leaving in defeat that the names wouldn't change. She approached the opened classroom door, head buzzing in anxiety at the start of a new year.

The class was already bustling with other students, who were chatting with their friends and just casually excited about sharing their classes with that person or another. The girl who had earned a glare at her name, Nakashima Naomi, was talking happily with a few people, one of whom was her best friend, Sonohara Seiko, and the other her long-time friend, Mochida Satoshi. She, too, was a bit disheartened at seeing Ayumi's name, since she was Satoshi's ex-girlfriend, but she just planned on ignoring her for most of the year. Another person of interest was about the only student in the room who wasn't chatting it up with somebody. It wasn't abnormal for those who knew him, though. Kishinuma Yoshiki, a slacker, loner, and all around rebel. Quite infamous for his temper and tendency to smoke in the bathrooms. Currently, he was doing what he did best: sleeping in class.

Suddenly, a girl bounced her way towards Ayumi, wrapping her arms around the other girl's neck. "Uwaaah, Ayu-chan! We're in the same class!" she said with glee, letting go of her and giving a shining smile, "I'm so happy! Shige-nii is here too! Such an exciting year!" She was all around very pleased with the turn of events, but suddenly glanced around, holding a finger to her now frowning mouth. "Oh... but he's here too, isn't he?" she asked thoughtfully, looking at Ayumi sympathetically. "Well, it may not be that bad... After all, you don't have to talk to him much, right? You can probably just ignore him most of the time," she mentioned, her smile reappearing as she tried to console Ayumi's spot of bad luck.

Ayumi had no clue why she was surprised to feel Mayu's arms around her, considering she was known for her hugs. She smiled cheerfully at her friend's presence... actually, Mayu was the only person in the entire school she would give the title "friend". A lot of her classmates had branded her as 'weird', which wasn't _entirely_ wrong. She wasn't able to get a word in with Mayu's quick, happy chatter. She did manage to toss Sakutaro a small smile, which he answered with a small curt nod. He seemed to only tolerate her because Mayu accepted her as a friend, but she couldn't say she disliked the stoic boy. He was just a bit difficult to carry a conversation with, especially when Mayu wasn't around. Her own smile flickered as Satoshi was mentioned, her eyes glancing over to glare at him with Seiko and Naomi. Ugh, he had the nerve to deny his interest in that girl the entire time they were going out. He was such a liar! She realized she was getting angry, so she tried to focus on Mayu's comforting words. "Well that certainly is the plan," she admitted with a small shrug. "It would be easier if she wasn't around, though. Ugh, I can bet you they're actually going to start going out this year," she vented with a small pout. Her affections for Satoshi were long gone, buried in the chaos of last year. Still, there was something about the idea of him and Naomi dating that made her want to punch him in the throat.

Mayu's smile turned sympathetic as Ayumi mentioned Naomi too. That's right, the source of the reason she and Satoshi had broken up. Her being here would probably run all over Ayumi, but hopefully it wouldn't be too bad. "Just don't pay them any mind! Satoshi is long gone in your head!" she encouraged with a thumbs up, placing her other hand on her waist. She then giggled, eyes scanning across the room, "Who knows... If you take some of your attention off of your anger, maybe you can find that really special someone!" Ayumi probably was nowhere ready for another relationship, but a new class meant new peers, and that meant more opportunities to get a new spark going! Any of the guys here could be that dream guy! Well, except for Satoshi... and Sakutaro. She didn't want jealousy to be something Ayumi was targeted with, but she wasn't sure how she'd feel if she got too comfy with him. But she didn't really think she had to worry. Sakutaro wasn't really in Ayumi's radar whatsoever. "Oh, Ayu-chan! Are you thinking of volunteering for class representative again this year?" she asked curiously, her thoughts jumping from one subject to the next, "You should! You were really good at it last year!"

Ayumi scoffed lightly at the idea of her dating anyone else. She certainly wasn't interested in getting back into all the drama, stress, and general frustration. Their relationship had been nice at first... things just took a turn for the worst and never really recovered. They let it drag on too long before finally cutting the tie, too. And while Satoshi had insisted they remain friends at the end, that promise wasn't one either of them kept. It was just easier to fall out from one another's lives, since neither had the interest or energy to keep the other one involved. Plus, scanning over the classroom, she felt nothing stirring inside of her at the new selection. She was a little surprised to notice Kishinuma Yoshiki, who would probably be a rarity to actually see in class, according to what she's heard. Eh, she had no interest in no-good slackers or any other of the boring boys. Ayumi was grateful for the question, because she didn't want to think too much about her failing romantic life. "Uh, yeah, I think I'll be able to keep up with it," she said with a small smile. She had no idea how busy she'd be dealing with her Miko duties... but she loved being class representative. She couldn't just let someone else take the position. Plus, it was a nice thing to put on a college resume. "Student Council is really the only club I have much of an interest in... Are you and Morishige joining the Drama Club again this year?" she questioned curiously.

Mayu was happy to hear that Ayumi was going to be class rep again. It really was her calling in school society! She was good at organizing class activities, and keeping most everyone in line. Ah, but judging by the crowd, she'd have a little trouble roping in some of their peers... Though, Mayu had high hopes in Ayumi's ability as a leader! "Yay!" she cheered at her answer, hopping up slightly, "Good luck this year! You have a tough crowd!... But I guess the challenges are the fun part!" She viewed every role as a sort of sport or hobby. The hard things were the most fun, and most rewarding, and there was no exception for class rep and a seat in student council. She smiled at Ayumi, giving her a nod. "Yep! We live to play the role!" she announced, giggling lightly, "Especially Shige-nii! He's so good!"

Ayumi looked thoughtful for a moment when she realized reelection may not be as easy as she was considering. Satoshi, Naomi, Seiko... the extension of people who disliked her, or at least wouldn't be in favor of her bossing them around, was pretty bad. Satoshi was definitely more popular among their peers than she was... But, she had done a good job last year, so hopefully she could still manage to nab the position. "Ha, well, it certainly won't be as easy as last year," she conceded with a small sheepish smile. She perked up at the two rejoining the club. She did enjoy going to the shows the Drama Club put on, they were always so entertaining. It was the most lively she ever got to see Sakutaro as well.

"Ah, you're too kind, Mayu," Sakutaro mumbled in some embarrassment behind her. Although, Ayumi could easily tell he was pleased by the praise. He did aim to be a world-famous actor, after all.

"I hope you guys can get leads this year. The seniors who led Hamlet last year were... eh, not good," Ayumi commented. Some of the people in the drama department considered it an easy club, so they didn't put too much effort into it, according to Sakutaro. Seniors normally were chosen for leads before any other grades as well, given it was their last year.

Mayu gave a glance to Sakutaro, giggling slightly at his modest comment. It was obvious we was the best in Kisaragi! He should live it up more! Hehe! She turned back to Ayumi, holding her hands behind her back. "Ah, yeah, it was painful to watch, and a bit disappointing that we only got minor roles...," she muttered in a slightly lower tone, "Most of the seniors and juniors are only in there for a credit. Even though we still are a little young, I hope they make better decisions for this year's play." Really, she didn't know if she wanted to be in the class anymore if this year was as bad of a disaster as last year was.

"They'd be stupid to not give you guys bigger roles," Ayumi said earnestly. Though, it seemed the time for chatting was coming to an end as the new homeroom teacher entered the class. She smiled in farewell to Mayu and Sakutaro before retreating to a seat with her name labeled on it. Eh, not as close to the front as she liked... but it was against the window, so she wouldn't complain.

* * *

Ayumi was pretty sure her luck must be at rock-bottom as her and Satoshi stood in front of the class. The results of class representative between her and Satoshi were a draw. She was using all her willpower to avoid glaring at him. But, really, she still couldn't believe he was nominated for class representative and accepted the nomination. Urgh, he knew what the position meant to her and the entire thing was turning into a production. Ms. Shishido, a young teacher, seemed to be a little panicked by the draw, and was quickly recounting the ballots.

Satoshi rubbed the back of his neck as he avoided even glancing at Ayumi, because he was almost positive she wanted to kill him at that moment. He was interested in the position, but at this point he just kind of wanted to throw his hands up and say 'never mind'. Although... a draw shouldn't happen in an odd-numbered class. He had a decent idea of who wouldn't even bother checking a name, though now he was just causing more trouble for everyone.

The fact that there was a tie slightly shocked Mayu, maybe even more so than the fact Satoshi would run against Ayumi. She didn't like to think ill of people, and it probably wasn't him trying to spite her, but it was still not a very nice move. She pouted slightly, glancing around the room and at their teacher as she wondered what would be the solution to a stalemate. '_Ugu, no matter what it is, Ayumi better be picked!'_ she declared in her head, crossing her arms with a small huff. How did an odd number class get a tie anyways?

What were the chances of this stupid thing ending up in a tie? Yoshiki glanced down at the paper on his desk, a paper he had neglected to even turn in. He didn't care who the stupid class representative was... Hell, he probably wouldn't even be in class after the first few days. His vote shouldn't even count... But since it did, and he had a sort of hatred for the overly pure Satoshi, he wanted to assure he'd at least fail at _something_. If he was class representative too, he'd be way too perfect. With a sigh, he sat up straight from leaning in his chair and jotted down a name. He held up the paper, a somewhat uninterested glance directed at Ms. Shishido. "Missed one..," he said in a semi-bored tone, watching as the relieved teacher came over and took the paper. As she went back to the front of the room to declare who exactly won, Yoshiki settled back into the chair with his hands behind his head, his eyes locked onto Ayumi.

Both the nominees' attention turned completely to Yoshiki as he handed in his neglected vote. Ayumi paled slightly as his eyes locked onto her. He was pretty intimidating looking... and she couldn't decide if his gaze was a good or bad thing for her. She didn't recall the two of them ever talking, and she doubted Satoshi was very good friends with him. Actually, to her knowledge, Kishinuma Yoshiki was a loner in every sense of the word. She looked over at Ms. Shishido announced the winner of class representative.

"Shinozaki Ayumi is our winner," she announced with a smile.

Ayumi visibly relaxed while Satoshi grimaced a little bit. It was probably unnecessary that feelings from their past relationship be brought up in an election that had no correlation with their past, but Ayumi couldn't help but feel a rush of smugness. She had kind of expected Satoshi to win on the ground of guys sticking together... Yoshiki probably just randomly decided on a name so this could be over with, though. She glanced at Satoshi, who offered her a sheepish smile. She made no movement to return it. "Well, uh, congrats, Shinozaki," he said awkwardly.

"Thanks," she replied dryly. The two made no movement to shake hands or complete any typical show of sportsmanship. They were both relieved as they were dismissed to their seats, glad the small election was finished. Ayumi was hiding a smirk behind her hand as she sat down in her seat. It felt ridiculously good to claim victory over Satoshi.

Yoshiki couldn't help but smirk at Satoshi's grimace. It was even more so to see how unfriendly the two were with each other, not even giving a simple handshake. They must have had some sort of history. "Heh..," he gave a small laugh at seeing Satoshi defeated, tossing Ayumi a glance. That was his amusement for the day... Finally, something Satoshi didn't succeed at...

Ayumi glanced over at Yoshiki curiously, catching a satisfied look on his face. She quickly looked back at her notebook in front of her, her expression thoughtful. She guessed he wasn't a big fan of Satoshi, which would make sense if you looked at it as the delinquent and the goody two-shoes. Though, she was a goody two-shoes in some ways herself... Ah, she really couldn't put her finger on why he would take enjoyment in Satoshi's losing. _'Ah well... I won, so I guess I shouldn't even worry about that too much,'_ she realized as she shifted her attention to the lecture.

Once they were given a break, Mayu bounced over to Ayumi, happily pouncing on her. "Yay! You won!" she cheered. She had really thought Satoshi was going to win, and it had her in such a worry, but that made her friend's victory all the more sweet! "I'm so glad you're 2-9's representative!" she added, rubbing her head affectionately against Ayumi's.

"Hehe, thanks Mayu," Ayumi smiled as Mayu came over and gave her the celebratory pounce. The affection used to freak her out, but she had grown quite accustomed to it as time went on. "I was almost sure I had lost there for a while,"she admitted with a pat to Mayu's head. The counting of the ballots had made her an absolute worried mess. It was nice to know the voting for the position hadn't been purely popularity based, because Satoshi would have probably won if that was the case.

Mayu backed away from Ayumi, holding her hands together as she nodded. "I did too! Not that I had any doubt who would be better, I just doubted that that guy would pick you," she said with slight distress in her tone. That Kishinuma certainly didn't care about stuff like this, so when it came to him for the tie breaker, she was quite worried! Luckily, if he had just guessed like she thought he had, it had been Ayumi's name on that slip of paper. "This is a sign that this year is gonna be great!" she said, the zest returning to her voice, "You'll be able to overcome Satoshi's existence! Noami's too! So that it'll just be you, me, and Shige-nii in the same class!"

Ayumi kept an unfaltering smile as Mayu reflected that it was going to be a great year. Still, she had her own doubts on how great it was going to be... Ten more days until she was seventeen and everything changed. She hoped Mayu wouldn't be chosen, she seemed too fragile to be put through such trials. "I hope you're right, Mayu," Ayumi said sincerely. Though, she would settle getting through the year in one piece.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a couple days after the start of school and things had begun settling into their normal routines. For the most part. Roll call was still taking longer than usual, mostly because it was a process of learning everyone's names and nicknames and so on. When done, Ms. Shishido handed her the paper in the folder for her to deliver to the office. She glanced over the class before leaving. Everyone had been present except Kishinuma Yoshiki. He certainly was living up to the reputation he set for himself. Slackers really bothered her, though. She never understood just going aimlessly through life when there was so much life had to offer.

Ayumi dropped the folder off at the office, smiling and greeting the staff. While she disliked most the women, they were gossips and judgmental, she always made sure to stay on their good side. They offered her some hard candy before she went off to class, which she accepted and just tucked into her skirt pocket. "Ah, that Kishinuma boy is already skipping? He didn't even make it a week this time," one of the women said as she opened the folder to type into the digital system who was there and not.

"I wish he'd just do something to get himself expelled. It isn't like he appreciates the education being handed to him," the other woman commented. Ayumi stood, looking over the woman with a slight frown. She didn't like the fact they were writing him off... it was never too late to change your life. Even in death, a person could change. "I can bet you he's smoking up on the roof again. Ugh, no point in scolding that boy. In one ear and out the other. Why I bet-"

Ayumi stopped eavesdropping because she didn't know why she stuck around that long to listen to them bad mouth the delinquent. She was heading back to class, fully intending to go back. Then she felt herself stop and move in the direction of the staircase. _'It's my duty as class rep to watch over my peers,'_ she told herself as she made her way up the steps. She opened the door to the roof, the fresh air pushing her hair. September weather really was nice... She glanced around, spotting the blonde boy just as the woman in the office had guessed. She stepped out into the roof, covering her mouth and nose with her sleeve as the putrid smell of cigarettes hit her. "You're missing class," she announced to him flatly.

Yoshiki hated school... He hated teachers, he hated students, he really didn't know why he even came at all. He came to school, then mostly skipped anyways... Maybe it was because... he didn't want to be completely alone? While he didn't socialize, there were still people... Eh, it was pointless to think about. He opened his eyes to stare to the clouds passing overhead, laying in his normal spot on the roof. Teachers didn't even care enough to bust him anymore, neither did the students. Everyone knew, including himself, that he was a lost cause. He could settle with that, too. He was someone whose purpose was to exist, not to live... Maybe become someone else's example of what not to be. He rose his hand that held a cigarette and took a deep breath of the smoke, shooting it into the air. He wondered what he'd do after school, whether he was just kicked out or dropped out. Just more existing, he guessed... He closed his eyes again, just taking in the warmth of the sun and gentle air.

Yoshiki was just getting comfortable as he heard a voice. His eyes snapped open, and he sat up to look at the girl addressing him with a blank stare. Who was she, and why did she care?.. Ah wait... She was that girl that beat Satoshi for the spot of class representative... His class... Even so, the class reps hardly ever bothered with him. How annoying... "Yeah, that's kinda the point," he told her, his tone just as flat and unamused as hers. Eh, he'd just deal with her like he had every other student that came after him. With enough ignoring and stubborn comments, he'd get her to give up within a month, he bet. None ever tried very hard, not that he wanted them to. They were mostly just a pain in the ass.

Ayumi scoffed at his reply, shaking her head in disapproval. She really didn't understand his type. What was there to hate about learning? Sure, sometimes she was disinterested with the discussions or overwhelmed by the work, but at the end of the day she was proud of what she's learned. "Why bother getting into your uniform and coming to school if you're just going to hide on the roof?" she questioned, eyes focused on him. She was really tempted to storm over to him and stomp out that cigarette, because the smoke was giving her a headache. Ugh, such a disgusting habit to develop. Such an unnecessary habit as well.

Yoshiki looked at her for a moment after she asked the question he had been asking himself a mere minute ago, and many times before. He closed his eyes before settling back with his hand behind his head, taking another breath of smoke and blowing it out in a sigh without regard for his company, who obviously didn't enjoy his habit. "I don't know," he answered simply, his voice not very conflicted. He didn't care what the answer was... It's what he did everyday. His body forced him up, threw on the uniform, and came to school with a scowl on his face. It seemed conflicting, that he hated it but came anyways. It was so strange that he couldn't read the choices himself, but it was halfway because he didn't care to sort the thoughts out. It was just something to do by this point.

"Well that's stupid," Ayumi snorted, her free hand resting upon her hip. The fact he kept breathing out more smoke was really pissing her off. The fresh air was so nice, but he was tainting it with that gross tobacco and other chemicals. "You're just wasting away up here," she commented, looking him up and down. What a sad existence to lead, just letting the tides of time pull you through life. "Try coming to class and actually learning something," she told him, pulling out her cellphone to read the time. Tch, she really couldn't spend much more time up here... She doubted her ability to sway him into attending class, though.

Yoshiki didn't open his eyes, flicking off the excess ashes on the cigarette. "Wasting away is nothing new to me," he commented, not making a move to get up and follow her instructions to come back to class. He didn't really understand why she was still around. She was missing class herself to come talk to him. "Isn't that what you should be doing, anyways? You're the one who actually likes it," he mentioned, finally opening his eyes back to glance at her. _'Don't be wasting your time on somebody like me.'_

Ayumi felt a little depressed by his words, because wasting away was a terrible way to live. He seemed resigned to do just that, though. She frowned as he jabbed at the fact she was technically skipping as well. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and shrugged as if the fact didn't bother her. "Mayu will catch me up on any material I miss," she answered, meeting his eyes. "As class rep, I'm responsible for you and your attendance. And I'm not going to turn a blind eye," she told him stubbornly. She really did believe she owed her classmates her attention, and in some weird way, he was the one who firmly put her in the position. She couldn't just turn away.

Yoshiki could tell this one was going to being horribly persistent... But he didn't really find her reason good enough. Because she was representative, she felt responsible for him? "Why?" he asked her, sitting up again as he realized she wasn't leaving him anytime soon. "I mean _really_... Class representative gets no shame to their name for students skipping, especially when it's my name on the absent list. So... why can you not just go about your own business?" he asked, truly curious as to why she was so intent on bugging him. Him not showing up was a fault on his own, not her's. She shouldn't try so hard... She'd learn like everybody else that it was pointless, and go about her own life, surely.

Ayumi tilted her head as she tried to formulate her answer in her head before speaking. "Well, I guess, besides the responsibility I personally feel with this position... I kind of feel like I owe you. You could have easily voted for Mochida," she answered, flushing lightly as she admitted it aloud. It was very petty of her to be so glad she beat Satoshi, but it was more than that. She had been class representative since her Freshman year, she would've been a bit heartbroken to lose it. Especially to her ex-boyfriend.

Yoshiki cracked a small smile. Ha, she owed him? If she really owed him, she'd leave him alone. But he guessed she was doing more what she considered to be a favor than what he wanted. "So I gained an annoying counselor?" he asked with a raised brow, but couldn't say he was regretting his decision, "Eh, you weren't in danger of losing when it was up to me. Satoshi is way too perfect for my tastes. It was nice to see him lose at something." The memory of that guy losing brought another thing to his mind that he was highly curious about. He smirked, his eyes narrowing at Ayumi in amusement, "Ah, that reminds me, you two didn't even shake hands when he lost. Do you guys have some sort of history?" he asked, incredibly intrigued since it was unheard of for a class rep and the other nominee to be so against interaction.

Ayumi looked at him curiously when he actually smiled. He looked a lot less intimidating, hell, she would go as far to say handsome. Though, it wasn't something she let herself reflect on too long. She smirked lightly at being referred to as an annoying counselor. She certainly wouldn't shy away from the role. She rolled her eyes at the idea of Satoshi being 'perfect'. It definitely wasn't a word she'd use to describe him, but she could certainly see where Yoshiki got the idea. His question caught her off guard, mostly because she had been sure the entire Junior class had known about the failed relationship. "Oh, that..." she started with a small huff. She probably should have made the effort to at least offer a handshake, because Satoshi would never have the nerve to ignore it. It would've been nice, but she still really wasn't at the point she could even consider being kind to her ex. "Yeah, we dated for a few months last year," she answered, eyes moving to gaze off the roof onto their surroundings.

Yoshiki waited for an answer, all the while thinking out how he felt about her, since she'd probably be hanging around him often to get him to turn his life around. She seemed like an okay person, despite the annoying prospect. Plus, he couldn't deny... he did like company. He felt suffocated often when he was totally alone. He wouldn't forget that she was doing this because she 'owed' him though, not because she actually cared about him personally. Just a quick thought to jot down so he didn't let himself get carried away. Not that such a thing particularly mattered, but on looks... she was okay. He wouldn't go into specifics, since he just met her and it seemed strange to analyze her too much. But if he was going to be constantly bothered by her this year, he mys well find something to occupy himself with during her rambles about why school was important. As she finally answered, he chuckled lightly. "An ex, huh? Guess that makes sense then," he said, his enjoyment out of the whole thing increasing, "So that's why he looked like he was suffering up there."

Ayumi was a little surprised how amused Yoshiki seemed about the entire thing, but she guessed it stemmed from his general contempt for Satoshi. She smirked lightly at mention of his suffering, although she hadn't been exactly happy up there with him, since she won, it hadn't seemed so horrible. "Yeah, and he deserves every bit of it," she announced, crossing her arms over her chest. Her nose had gotten used to the smell of smoke to the point it wasn't really registering in her brain... although, she was going to most likely smell like cigarettes herself now... ugh. She realized how jaded she sounded towards Satoshi, but honestly, she didn't care. It wasn't like Yoshiki was a gossip, and considering he disliked Satoshi, she doubted much judgement would come her way. "I bet he only took the nomination to try to avoid me sticking him with the grunt chores," she realized, a mischievousness glint in her eye. It was the only abuse of power she allowed herself. Along with making sure Satoshi and Naomi were never paired for chores... Haah, okay, she really did take advantage of her position last year. She had told herself she'd be better this time around, but with Satoshi's attempt at her spot, it was tempting to give him garbage and cleaning duty for the rest of the year.

Yoshiki couldn't help but like her for the simple fact that she also seemed to hold a certain disdain for Satoshi. It didn't stem from the same source, but it was still mutual dislike, which made her easier to be around than the girls who talked about him like he was a god. While she had dated him, meaning she had thought in a similar way before, what mattered was the now, and the ill feelings after a break up were still strong with her. It'd be nice to have someone to bad mouth Satoshi with. "Which must mean you've done it before... Haha, that's pretty smart revenge," he commented with a glint in his eyes. And judging by her attitude, he was the one who had caused the break up, which chalked up another loss to the 'perfect student.' Though now, their talk had veered away from him skipping, to something she probably hadn't intended to share with him. "Though really, shouldn't you head back? Your first few days as class rep aren't really ones you want to spend hanging around someone like me," he mentioned, since the position was pretty strict, and he was certain you were constantly being judged. Even though she didn't seem like a bad person, they probably wouldn't look too favorably on her being around such a bad influence, as they constantly called him.

Ayumi was noticing a small theme of him constantly talking down about himself. Not in a whiny way, just in a defeatist tone. He resigned himself as a delinquent, which was too bad. He didn't seem _awful _or anything. She certainly wouldn't trust him with much and the smoking was pretty annoying, but he didn't seem overly aggressive or anything. The rumors she heard were probably exaggerations... probably. "Heh, you make it sound like I care about what they think about me," she said with a faint smile. It was fair to say about half the class didn't even want her in the position, and most her peers thought her strange. That could all be traced back to her open weirdness with the occult in middle school. "But, I serve as their adviser and a role model, so you're right. I really should be getting back," she said her fingers linking behind her as she turned to the door. "You should consider returning to class too, though. You'll probably nap through it anyways, so maybe at least your subconscious will soak in some information," she chimed before opening the heavy door to back inside. She glanced at him one more time before heading inside, the door closing behind her.

Yoshiki watched her go, moving his hand through his hair as the door shut with a bang and his eyes drifted back up to the clouds. He took another, last deep breath of the smoke and released it in a large sigh, tossing the cigarette to the ground. Eh... he didn't want to today... It felt strange going back after skipping a period... but he guessed he'd hang around tomorrow. He settled back on the roof with both hands behind his head, thinking about this or that, to occupy his time before he could finally drift off into a nice nap. He wondered exactly how long that girl would keep pushing him back into class... Exactly how long he had before he was completely isolated again.

* * *

It was the next day in class when Ms. Shishido decided it would be fun to have a small group activity. She randomly selected groups, the assignment was just to translate a short story and explain what happened in it. It could easily be something a person did by themselves, but the teacher seemed pretty excited to have the class interact more. Ayumi had been halfway paying attention when her name was called and the following names caused her brain to stall.

"Shinozaki Ayumi, Mochida Satoshi, and Kishinuma Yoshiki are the next group."

_'Dammit,'_ she thought, her expression giving away her dread of being in a group with Satoshi. She didn't mind Yoshiki so much... though, he probably wasn't going to be much help with the actual work. She had no problem translating, though, so she didn't particularly _need_ the help.

Satoshi was pretty sure winter had come early when he settled across from Ayumi, the groups getting together and moving desks around. She had that ice queen look on her face, which told him he wasn't going to be getting much help. He also wasn't thrilled about being with the delinquent, who had caused him to lose the election. He was doomed to collect the trash and sweep the classroom for the rest of the year now... "So, ah, Shinozaki... how was your summer?"

"Fine," she answered in disinterest. She opened her book to the page of the short story, not bothering to look at Satoshi.

"Uh, that's good..." he said, rubbing the back of his head. He really did miss being able to talk to her normally... ugh, things had really messed up between them. "So, your birthday's coming up, rig-"

"Can we please just focus on the assignment?" she interrupted with a small sneer, eyes still stuck on the book in front of her.

Satoshi deflated slightly, twirling a pen in his hand as he made a small disappointed noise of acknowledgement. He looked down at the book... Ms. Shishido would notice if their group wasn't actually interacting though... she didn't really want to lose all those points that came from the group participation, did she?

Yoshiki hated group assignments, especially when he was put in a group with Satoshi. He sort of regretted not skipping, but he had told himself he'd at least show up, and he couldn't back out now. He shifted his seat so he was more beside Ayumi, his look more of just agitation than Ayumi's cold glare. He remained silent at the two's exchange, not being able to help but smirk at Satoshi's inability to break through the ice Ayumi had created. This would be pretty entertaining, watching Satoshi break under her heavy, agitated atmosphere.

Satoshi sighed as he silently tried to do the assignment, though he kept running into moments where he wasn't sure what the word meant. He frowned as his eyes flickered over to Yoshiki, an annoyance spiked in him when he noticed the smirk on his face. Urgh, he was such a jerk. "Uh... Shinozaki, what's the sentence at the beginning of paragraph four mean?" he asked when he noticed Ms. Shishido's eyes upon their group.

Ayumi glanced up, letting out a sigh of annoyance. She realized he was making an effort, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. He was just a lying bastard she didn't want to have to deal with anymore. "He was in despair," she answered curtly, writing in her notebook.

"Shinozaki..." Satoshi mumbled, unable to handle the frozen atmosphere very long. "I thought we'd agree to be _civil_," he said to her quietly. He didn't really care if Yoshiki heard the conversation, since he was practically a ghost in this school.

"Oh, how am I being uncivil?" Ayumi questioned, eyes finally off the book to look at Satoshi.

"You're being cold," he said, although a much more unkind word came to mind, he wouldn't say that to her. Unless he wanted to be slapped.

"That's not uncivil," she responded without missing a beat.

"It's still rude," he grumbled, eyes falling down to the papers in front of him. Ayumi just scoffed at him before continuing to write in her notebook.

Yoshiki wasn't even hardly looking at the book, not caring to do the assignment, especially since it was already expected of him as such. After a few minutes had passed, he heard another little exchange between the exes, this one no less awkward and tense. He chuckled lightly at Ayumi's scoff, knowing now she really was absolutely pissed at Satoshi, and for some reason, it seemed Satoshi desperately wanted her to at least be normal with him, especially judging by the first time he spoke. Mentioning her birthday was a cry for normal conversation, and Yoshiki found it a little annoying he expected a friendly exchange. "What's wrong? Can't handle a girl that doesn't fawn all over you?" he asked, his smirk still large across his face.

Satoshi felt himself on edge at Ayumi continuing to ignore him. He had figured this would've settled down over the summer, but that didn't seem to help at all. Yoshiki's chuckle and general amusement from this was really annoying him. But then he had to go as far to make a comment. Satoshi's head snapped to look at Yoshiki, his eyes narrowed. "Piss off, Kishinuma," he snapped, and he should probably just leave it off there but he felt obligated to say something else. "It's not my fault no girl would consider dating a loser like you," he said with a pointed glare. He realized insinuating that Yoshiki was jealous of him was dangerous angle to take, but he couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth.

Ayumi's eyes rose from the pages of her book when Yoshiki first spoke, and she was admittedly surprised how angry Satoshi seemed as a result. What followed was Satoshi insulting Yoshiki, which was really weird. Satoshi normally played the defense, not the offense, but here he seemed angry enough to actually insult Yoshiki.

Yoshiki eyes narrowed back at him, a small fire building up inside him. Who did he think he was, talking big like he was of some higher class? He leaned forward to get his seat back on the ground, laying his arm across the table, the other at his side. Not his fault? Was he suggesting he was envious of his popularity with the girls? "Haha, wow, you're actually suggesting I'm _jealous_ of you?" he asked with an edge to his tone, his smirk not gone, but he was obviously more agitated than just poking fun this time, "You, a spineless, sheltered brat who can't even handle being disliked by one or two people? Like hell I'm jealous of you."

Satoshi's eye narrowed at Yoshiki, his blood roaring in his ears from frustration. He didn't even really know how to respond to the onslaught of issues, but he refused to back down after being called 'spineless'. "You're getting pretty irritated for someone whose not jealous," Satoshi remarked flatly. "And say what you want about me, but at least I'm not a good-for-nothing, lazy, selfish, aggressive delinquent like you," he countered, finding his normal good-nature and patience gone for the moment as he finally was able to lash out at someone.

Yoshiki felt his fire build up, his fist clenching up at this smug bastard. He really thought himself a king compared to him, did he?... Normally, he'd let this thing drop, especially during class, but he had been waiting for an opportunity to punch this wise-ass for a long time. In a swift movement, he got up from his seat and aimed a strong punch against the side of Satoshi's face. He waved his hand off slightly, glaring, "God, you're 'better than you' attitude really pisses me off," he said in a low tone, a frown replacing his smirk.

Satoshi hadn't been expecting the hit, because they were in the middle of class and surely he couldn't be that stupid. His jaw hadn't been clenched, so his teeth dug into his gum, the taste of blood quickly became palpable in his mouth. His face hurt badly and he let out a hiss of a curse, a fire inside of him that gave him the desire to hit back. He didn't get the chance to, though, as Ms. Shishido appeared angry and horrified.

Ayumi had been staying quiet as the two boys began to snap at one another. As long as she didn't have to get involved, she wouldn't. An argument wasn't such an awful thing, but it was when Yoshiki got up from his seat that she realized she probably should have tried to intervene. The punch looked like it hurt, the action leaving her confused and angry. Taking it to a physical violence level so quickly... the rumors circulating about past fights must have been more spot-on than she was giving them credit for. She was about to say something, scold or yell, but Ms. Shishido cut her off before she could collect her thoughts. She yelled at both the boys to go to the office, saying she'd walk them down because she didn't seem to want an actual fight to break out. Satoshi seemed deflated, just grumbling his acceptance of the command.

* * *

Naomi tossed the volley ball a few times in the air, waiting for the coach to get done with whatever he had to do with a couple of other teachers. Their teams had been split, and lucky her, she had Ayumi in her team. At least she was the captain, so Ayumi couldn't try and boss her around. Speaking of groups, that incident in the morning that got Satoshi wrongfully in trouble was probably her fault. That troublemaker didn't really even talk to Satoshi, not even insult him most of the time, so it wouldn't surprise her if Ayumi had been the catalyst for the whole thing... She probably only thought that way because she was upset that Satoshi had been taken out of class too, and she needed someone she didn't like to direct her anger towards. She threw the ball towards the wall, catching it on the rebound. She glanced to Ayumi before throwing it again, making a small gasp as the ball veered way off her 'intended path' and smacked lightly into Ayumi. "Ah, I'm sorry!" she said, but something about her very small smile made her sympathy hard to believe.

Ayumi hated gym class with a passion. Between the changing room, rude teachers, and general awkwardness of the entire class, the entire experience was dreadful. She also got stuck with Naomi, which made her want to find the nearest oven and stick her head in it. Effort wasn't something Ayumi put into the class, even if she was more athletic than people would perceive. Speed and stamina were the only factors she really worked on, though. She was off in her own little daydream when she felt the ball lightly hit her. It didn't hurt, but there was something about being hit that made an aggressive flame come to light in her stomach. Her expression was flat and unimpressed at Naomi, the apology was see-through. Hah, she probably blamed her for what happened with Satoshi and Yoshiki earlier today. She picked the ball up off the ground, and tossed it back to Naomi with a little more force than was necessary. "Yeah, _sure_ you are," she responded sarcastically.

Naomi caught the ball, making a small grunt at the unexpected hardness. Catching it made her hands sting a little, but playing volleyball had gotten her used to that kind of thing. She smiled sadly at Ayumi, still trying to play it as an accident. "Really, I am. It was an accident," she insisted, holding the ball behind her back. She probably still wouldn't see it as such, but she didn't want her peers to think her so aggressive. She didn't need Ayumi to believe her, really.

Ayumi's eyes narrowed at Naomi, the entire act was completely unconvincing. Ayumi knew she disliked her, and the feeling was truly mutual. Ayumi probably had more sour feelings toward Naomi than vice versa, considering she was the reason that Satoshi and her relationship crumbled. She sighed, eyes looking away from Naomi with a bored expression on her face. "Whatever. Just serve." She wasn't going to accept a false apology, she just wanted to get the stupid game going again.

Naomi looked over at the coach, who was still outside the gym doors, talking to other teachers. "I wish I could, but we can't start until the coach gets back," she answered, bouncing the ball on the floor, which had to be harder than normal since volleyballs weren't built for bouncing. "Hey, just out of curiosity, why did you take so long the other day getting back from submitting attendance?" she asked as if she just needed the small talk, but really, she just wanted to see how good of a class representative she was. Ayumi wasn't stupid though, she admitted, so she'd probably see through her intentions and choose not to answer.

Ayumi raised an eyebrow at Naomi, her contempt for the girl just rising. Her hands rested on her hips, eyes still staring off into the distance. "I don't think that's something you really need to worry about," she said, unwilling to tell Naomi anything. Her little rooftop meeting with Yoshiki wasn't exactly something she was tempted to share. She didn't say anything after that, even though a small threat to keep her nose out of her business was tempting, she wouldn't proceed with it. She just didn't want to engage any further. She would be fine just standing in silence till the stupid sport continued, because it was more preferable than having a conversation with Naomi.


	3. Chapter 3

September 12th. It had come in a blink of an eye, and Ayumi felt a certain level of panic rising as her seventeenth birthday came. Her Centurions would be picked, and they would protect her as she went upon cleansing closed spaces. She always knew it was going to happen. She had seen Hinoe go through it herself when she was around seven, and her father had spent a huge chunk of her life preparing her for it.

Her own birthday was an afterthought, though her sister had delivered her gift to her in the morning along with reassuring words. It had been a new tablet, a gesture of support to her hesitant dream of being an illustrator. Her dad was practically in tears, continually trying to hug his daughter as he shouted for her to fulfill her destiny and that the spirits were surely going to pick the best Centurions for her.

Hours and hours later, school was being let out and she was still without any Centurions. She would know when it happened, Hinoe had described the feeling of the forced pact, so she knew what to look for. She was standing outside in the school yard, texting her dad to leave her alone and that no one was chosen yet. She sighed, glaring down at her phone. Should she hang around the school for the rest the day? A Centurion was chosen by the spirits, she really had no affect on it. She was beginning to feel impatient by the stalling, her stomach had been twisting with anxiety all day and she couldn't handle it much longer.

Naomi had been happily chatting with Seiko, unable to find Satoshi before being too impatient to keep waiting for him. She had hoped he wouldn't be preoccupied, but it couldn't be helped. It seemed he had stuff to do a lot of the time. As she walked, she genuinely didn't pay attention to where she was going and accidentally bumped into Ayumi. "Ah, s-" she began to say, but felt a weird pressure in the back of her head. It caused her to stop in her steps and place a hand on her head. She felt... dizzy... What was wrong with her? "Eugh... S-Seiko, you can go on ahead... I'll catch up in a second..," she said with a small smile, rubbing her temple.

Seiko blinked at Naomi curiously, concern on her face as she was told to go ahead. She would normally want to wait up as Naomi caught her bearings, but she had to pick her siblings up from school so she couldn't really lose too much time. "Ahh, if you say so! Don't take too long, though. You know I can't stand being separated from you!" she chimed, continuing to walk.

Ayumi felt a spike of annoyance as someone bumped into her, but the annoyance was replaced with a pressure. She blinked a few times, her brain lagging to catch up with what was happening. Then it hit her, and her stomach plummeted in horrible dread. "No no no no _no_," she muttered quietly. She cursed at the spirits and their sick sense of humor... maybe it was a mistake. Maybe she just got a headache... simultaneously at the same time as Naomi. She was postponing judgement until she saw the signature of a Centurion on her. "Nakashima, this is gonna sound weird, but show me your wrists," she said seriously, her eyes narrowed in determination. Naomi's wrists would be bare... it'll all be fine... no way would she be stuck with Nakashima Naomi as her Centurion.

Naomi couldn't pinpoint exactly where this thrumming in the back of her head came from. She was fine just a second ago... She looked at Ayumi strangely, wondering why in the world she would want to see her wrists... But arguing with her would probably only waste more of her time, judging by how stubborn she could be. "Err, okay... but make it quick. I have to catch back up with Seiko," she muttered in response, her annoyance blended with confusion in her tone. She gestured her hands towards Ayumi, staring intently to see what sort of weird thing she planned to do to her.

Ayumi took Naomi's hand, flipping them over. The left one was clear... the right one was not. The golden lines decorated the inside part of Naomi's wrist, linking her to Ayumi for a whole year, possibly longer. She sighed in defeat, dropping the left hand and moving her own free hand to tap on the marking to draw Naomi's attention towards it. "I think..." she began to say, misery hanging over her like a cloud, "you may want to tell Shinohara to go on without you." They would have to talk. Oh gods, what were the spirits thinking? Naomi was going to let her die in a closed space. No way would she actually want to protect her... nor was Ayumi really sure she could. "We have to talk," she explained with a frown.

Naomi gave the marking a strange look, completely freaked out about exactly what Ayumi was trying to get at. What was that symbol? And why did she seem to know about it? Still... her curiosity wouldn't let her refuse... "Mm... okay...?" She slowly stepped away from Ayumi to go tell Seiko she wouldn't be able to go back to her house with her just yet. She made the short jog back to where she left Ayumi, a little surprised she was still there, and not playing some sort of trick on her. "Okay... now... what the hell is this mark?" she asked bluntly as she grabbed her wrist, feeling like she deserved an answer, at least.

Satoshi was heading off to home after having talked to some friends in another class when he noticed Ayumi and Naomi. He should probably stay away... but his curiosity was piqued by seeing the two of them together. He knew for a fact Ayumi hated Naomi and was weirdly jealous of her... Naomi didn't seem to be Ayumi's biggest fan either. He debated for a moment before approaching the two.

Ayumi opened her mouth to respond to Naomi when a very heavy weight fell on her, forcing her to the ground. Then the pressure occurred again, though this time she caught her bearings very quickly. "_Goddammit!_" she yelled, moving her knee to hit Satoshi in the stomach because he was heavy and she didn't like him touching her.

Satoshi hadn't meant to trip, but his feet managed to get tangled with themselves... it was a klutzy, stupid move that got him way to close to Ayumi, which got him a knee in the stomach. His head felt like it was being pressed on by some unseen force. He managed to quickly get off Ayumi and stumble to his feet, even if he was a bit winded by the hit. "S-sorry," he said, embarrassed by the entire thing. He held his hand out to help her up.

Ayumi sat up, grabbing his hand by the wrist and turning it around. She felt Satoshi's confused stare as she observed the Centurion mark on him. "Well, fuck," she cursed, letting go of Satoshi's wrist and standing up on her feet. She brushed off her skirt, giving both of them a pointed glare.

Satoshi looked at his wrist in confusion, considering the look Ayumi had given it. He blinked slowly as he registered the little golden mark. "Ah... Shinozaki... what is this?" he asked, figuring she would know.

"Ho boy, this is gonna be fun," Ayumi muttered sarcastically to herself. Her ex and the girl he liked. The spirits were assholes. She placed her hands on her hips, head reeling as she figured out how to explain all this. "Well, congratulations you two. You are my Centurions," she announced with a flat tone.

Naomi watched in silence as Satoshi entered into the picture. Ugh, he was so nice, offering his hand to help her up, but she always treated him like a jerk. She observed her inspect his wrist, and noticed the same marking on him. She looked strangely at Ayumi, her vague mention of what they were not helping her whatsoever. "We're your what now?" she asked with a raised brow, her arms crossed across her chest.

Ayumi sighed, wishing these details were common knowledge. They were in the occult community, but it wasn't like those two would ever encounter the detail. "My bloodline carries a psychic trait to it. This trait has a... magical detail to it that when those of psychic blood turn seventeen they will enter a year long trial. Now, this trial involves going into closed spaces, eh, parallel dimensions, if you will. These dimensions are ran by angry spirits who are extremely dangerous. These spirits lure people into these spaces to kill them, and then as a result, the closed spaces get bigger and deadlier. So, to keep the world from becoming a ghost ridden mess, there are people like me who have the ability to cleanse those spaces. But, there's a catch. My ability is purely cleansing. I'm a sitting duck inside closed spaces for ghosts to kill me, because in most circumstances, a ghost at full power cannot be purified or appeased. As a result, people become bound to psychics such as myself, though we're called Miko's. Anyways, these bound people are Centurions. They are given the duty to protect the Miko and assist in anyway so the spaces can be cleansed. Ahh, is this all making sense?" Ayumi asked, tapping a finger against her chin thoughtfully. There was a lot of details to cover and she was given a textbook outline. Satoshi was pale and unblinking, mouth slightly agape as she explained. She knew he knew she wasn't joking, and he seemed a bit panicked by the idea of having to deal with ghosts. Ugh, a cowardly Centurion who was absolutely terrified of ghosts. Great.

Naomi gave a blank stare at Ayumi. Parallel dimensions, and ghosts? What in the hell was going on? She rubbed her head, glancing to the side for a moment. "Err... maybe... but... why were we chosen for such a thing?" she asked, skipping the comment that 'ghosts don't exist'. That'd be a waste of time. However, as she further took in the situation, she would've said this was some sort of prank, to get back at her and Satoshi, if not for the mark on her wrist and inexplicable headache. Still... she didn't want spend her time doing this, defending _Ayumi_ from _ghosts_. And she highly doubted Satoshi could take the situation. He could be a real scaredy cat sometimes.

Ayumi was wondering the same exact thing. The Centurions main purpose was to make sure a Miko stayed alive and capable of purifying realms... this involved putting your own life at stake. To put her with complete strangers would have been better than putting her with two people that probably couldn't care less about her safety."Well, it's not because I chose you," Ayumi stated firmly, wanting there to be no doubt that she would have never done such a thing. "The spirits make the decisions..." she admitted with a small shrug.

Satoshi's head was reeling, the entire situation was hard to let sink in. He really didn't want to deal with ghosts... he hated the idea they were even real. And spirits picking them? The entire thing sounded like some anime or something. He looked at the marking on his wrist, as if to confirm it was really there, since it was the only proof Ayumi had towards her words at the moment.

Naomi just stared, unsure of how to take all of this. She didn't want this! She wanted to spend her time with what she wanted to do! Chatting with Seiko and Satoshi! Not doing this crap for a girl she didn't even like! "... Do... do we _have_ to help?" she asked hesitantly, not particularly liking how cold she sounded to herself, but this was not what she had planned on. Plus, it sounded dangerous...

Ayumi wasn't surprised, nor very offended by the question. She had been expecting it to be one of the first ones, considering the two of them would not want to be Centurions. Any sane person would react badly to the forced upon role, admittedly. "Well, no, you could always just go upon your life as normal," Ayumi began to say, but her tone had a definite '_but_' tone to it. "But, you may notice your luck plummet. Let's just say spirits don't take kindly to being ignored, and you'll end up as good as cursed. The bad luck isn't just cutesy stuff like being late because some bicyclist crashed into you or you losing your money for lunch, either," she explained, preparing for Naomi to get pissed. Satoshi seemed to be baffled by all the information, letting the reigns of the questions go to Naomi as he just stood, stunned.

Naomi paused as Ayumi's answer cornered her. She was unsure of what bad luck Ayumi could possibly mean, but she guessed it was really horrible, if this sort of thing could really happen. She pulled down her sleeve to look at her wrist, her frown deepening at the inability to deny that this was going on. "S-so we're stuck..," she mumbled, rubbing her arm nervously as she glanced to the side. They were just thrown into this... Even though it wasn't completely her fault, she found that her dislike of Ayumi rose. "Then... how are we supposed to protect you from ghosts?" she asked, figuring she would need to know if she didn't have a choice but to go into this.

Ayumi frowned at Naomi referencing to being 'stuck'. She knew the two of them were unhappy, and she herself was pretty pissed about all of this. Out of everyone in the world, those two had to be the top of her list for "people I do not want to protect my life and hang out with all the time for a year." She didn't really have a choice, though the year ahead of her seemed like it would take much longer than she originally hoped. "You'll pick weapons. You'll figure out which are best suited for you and use that. You'll be able to actually damage the ghosts, too, because of the spiritual energy the seal unleashes," she explained, getting tired of spouting exposition.

"Wait... all those swords and stuff at your house are actually used?" Satoshi asked, genuinely surprised. He had figured the old styled swords, bows and arrows, and knives that were strewn around her house were purely decorative.

"Well, some are too old at this point. But, yeah, you'll test out what you want to use. Then my dad will make you a new one that's fitted for you," Ayumi said, as she pulled out her cell phone. Her dad or Hinoe hadn't tried to text or call her again...

Naomi grimaced, not liking this situation at all. She didn't want to handle any sort of weapon, to fight ghosts. This was all crazy... and she hated it... But she didn't want to have bad luck for who knows how long. "This isn't good..," she said with a sigh, feeling absolutely screwed over in life at this point. Ugh, why her, of all people?! Forget being involved with Ayumi, but this ghost thing... if they could kill Ayumi so easily, then what would happen to them? This was scary, and maddening...


	4. Chapter 4

Yoshiki had skipped school for the past few days, that stupid gym teacher Tsubota was hassling him again and he needed a break. He walked along the street with his hands in his pockets, but paused as his head began to throb with pain. What the..? It was overwhelming... Where in the world had this come from?... He felt himself becoming dizzier, before everything went black.

When his mind finally got some clearance, he was standing in the hallway of some dark house, the light outside seemed like it was almost sun down. "Where... the hell is this?" he asked himself, finding himself being put more on edge by the strange surroundings. As his vision got even better, he noticed blood spattered the walls, and seemingly dripping from the ceiling. Was this... some sort of nightmare? He took a step back, his brain completely lost before he heard a strange noise from behind. _Khe Khe..._

He turned, but had no time to react as some blunt object slammed against his head. The pain was sharp and quick before he was out again, his body dropping unconscious. But not for long. His hand twitched and his eye opened, a grin spreading across his face. "KhekheheheheheeheehehahahaHAHAHAHAH!"

* * *

"So... we're really doing this," Satoshi grimaced as they stood outside an abandoned house. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his instinct was to get far away from this place. His hand rested on the hilt of a sword, the weapon he ultimately decided to go with. Ayumi felt it necessary to make a jibe how stereotypical the weapon was, and how perfect a fit it was, but he really did feel best with it. Although, all the weapons had felt weird and wrong to go through. He really wasn't much of a fighter. He gulped slightly, his stomach twisting as he imagined what was going to meet them on the other side.

"Yep. Kaizu Naoi is the boy suspected to be the core of this closed space..."Ayumi stated, even though the two had been briefed already. She was nervous, even more so than Satoshi. She kept the fear and anxiety hidden through a determined glare. She had been training for this her entire life, but now that the moment was there, she felt herself stalling. "Only his arm was ever found. The murderer is unknown. Lately people have been disappearing in this area, so it's believed he's been luring them in and killing them. His method of murder is unknown..." she finished, her voice trailing. They could really die. Ayumi really didn't trust the two of them with her life either, so her anxiety was spiking. She just had to keep a solid, focused mind, though. She refused to have a panic attack. "Okay, let's do this," she said stepping up to the door and opening it, the metal hinges protesting with a squeak. The house looked like a normal abandoned house. The closed space wasn't inviting them in, so she'd have to push her way in. She held up her hand, sending a pulse of energy that caused the air in front of them to become rippled. She let out a heavy breath. She had nothing to say to Naomi or Satoshi, so she simply stepped into the rippling air, the typical abandoned house became so much worse as she entered the ghost's territory.

Naomi shifted nervously, only finding herself more anxious at Ayumi's description of who they were up against. The name sounded familiar... She had heard her mother talk about it before... Kaizu Naoi was the supposed victim to the murder back when she had only been five. Since his arm had only been found, the police were never sure, and never found anymore evidence to the murder. She clutched her gun, heart beating fast at just holding the weapon. She didn't want to shoot this... It didn't matter if he was already dead, or who she was shooting at... She hated holding a weapon... As Ayumi stepped forward and disappeared into the rippling air, she tossed Satoshi a worried look before stepping forward herself. She gasped lightly at her surroundings, holding the firearm to her chest, fully unprepared for this. She was terrified...

Ayumi knew closed spaces were awful places. The anger, hatred, and bitterness of ghosts who had wrongly died make up these places and it was reflected in the atmosphere. The air felt thick, her senses felt like they were spiking out of control as she tried to handle the feeling of being this close to the dead. There were others who had been killed, but their only concern was the original ghost. Though, those who had fallen victim would likely be out for blood too. She was scared, her chest felt so tight and she wanted to leave. She didn't want to be burdened with the Shinozaki blood... She took a sharp breath, telling herself to calm down. She had been preparing for this her entire life... everything would be fine. Surely she wouldn't die her first time out... The blood splattered on the walls made her heart pound. She had watched so many scary movies, trying to dull the fear that she knew would come. It was only blood, it wasn't even too gory a scene. Yet, her brain knew it came from a human... she couldn't feel comfortable or confident in this place. "Okay, we need to seek out Kaizu Naoi and you two need weaken him. Once damaged... I should be able to fix this," she told them. It wasn't much of a plan... She felt a bit bad for going with the damage approach as well. Purification could be accepted, by means of appeasement, or forced, by means of violence.

Satoshi felt pale, trying to keep a certain level of confidence as the only guy there. Even if Centurions were supposed to protect the Miko... he had to keep an eye on Naomi too. He was worried sick about all of this, the house was dripping in bad vibes. He made a small grunting noise of acknowledgement of Ayumi's directions. He was dreading coming face to face with a ghost... but... he had to manage.

Naomi nodded hesitantly, but she couldn't keep her mind straight. This was all terrifying, and she had no idea what to expect. Her eyes traveled from Ayumi, to Satoshi, to her surroundings, paranoia grasping her mind as she frantically looked for anything that seemed ghost-like. She didn't even know what they were supposed to look for... All they knew was that he was young, and a boy, who may or may not have all his limbs... Her whole body jolted at a sound that sounded like it came from further inside the bloodied house. She waited, her legs shaking slightly.

"Khe khe khe..." The laugh echoed from the house's halls, Yoshiki's body walking in a swaying motion. One hand held a knife, the other held up for him to examine. In a loop for a belt on his pants swayed a meat tenderizer that was soaked with blood, to the point it constantly dripped. His own head had a large injury from the said tool, the blood running out profusely down his face and dripping off his chin. "KHEKHEKHE, blood run out~ blood run out~" he chimed, sliding the knife across his palm and watching with a large smile at the blood running out of the new gash, his opened eye wide and crazed at the sight and sense of the wound.

There was one bright-side of this being their first closed space. It was limited to the house, meaning they wouldn't have to search very long. A hospital or school would be a much longer procedure... but here, the ghost wouldn't stay hidden for long. The laughter made Ayumi freeze, her eyes narrowing past the darkness as her heart lurched. She was terrified of moving forward, the laughter sounded like it was fading, though... Her eyes caught a figure in the darkness, unable to make out who the person was, though she did quickly come to a conclusion.

"Is that... a person... or a ghost?" Satoshi asked quietly, the cackling laughter made him sick. He was just glad it wasn't heading towards them... yet.

"A person... but... he may be possessed," Ayumi explained, as it was the only conclusion that made sense.

"Now what, then? We can't attack a person!" Satoshi asked in a hushed, panicked voice.

"I... this isn't supposed to happen..." Ayumi complained lightly, unsure how to proceed. They were there to save lives, so harming or allowing the possessed person to die was not an option. She wasn't really sure how to rid someone of a possession... her guess would be to send a pulse strong enough to push the spirit out...

The laughter from Yoshiki continued as he turned his hand, trailing the knife along to slice through the skin. The burning, hot pain made him absolutely joyful, earning a louder cackle. He grasped the blade, his grip growing tighter so it sunk into his fingers. Though, something made him pause, his eye glancing around as his smile faded. "People... People that aren't welcome..," he muttered in a zombie-like state. His trembling, bleeding hand took the handle and cut across the once clean hand before it reached to pull the tenderizer from the belt loop. He turned to walk towards the main hall, stabbing the knife into the wall beside him with a bang. He didn't yet turn the corner, standing at it quietly for a moment. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers... Strangers don't belong... LEAVE." he demanded, lifting the knife and stabbing it into the wall again, his other hand fidgeting impatiently around the grip of the tenderizer.

Naomi jumped at the voice, unsure of what to do. If someone was possessed, what were they supposed to do? As she lost the ability to even try to protect herself, her trembling increased, and she had to fight off tears of fear.

Ayumi's mind was in overload as she realized she was the one who was going to have to take the reigns on this. Terror was clouding her mind, she wanted to leave, but... she had to do this. She hated so much that she couldn't protect herself... Satoshi and Naomi were scared out of their minds to the point they seemed to be stunned frozen. "We need to get the ghost out of him," Ayumi said, her voice only slightly uneasy as she fought to keep composure. She could hear the ghost shouting... weird thing is, the voice sounded vaguely familiar... She pushed the thought aside as she tried to explain her plan. "You know that pulsing feeling you get when you use your weapon? I want one of you to do that without your weapon, with as much force as you can muster. We can't do any damage to the ghost until he's out, and whoever he's possessing is in very serious danger, so we need to be quick."

Yoshiki went silent, his eye staring wide at the door. The strangers wouldn't leave... they wouldn't leave his house... "Strangers don't BELONG!" he repeated with his voice raised, eye darting back and forth in a craze. "Don'tbelongdon'tbelongdon'tbelong...," he muttered, pacing back into the hall as he slid the knife in a zigzag fashion on his arm."I'mnotsupposedtotalktostrangers... but strangers... won't... LEAVE...," he mumbled in frustration, slamming the wall with the tenderizer. He wanted to kill them. Rip them apart. But he wasn't supposed to talk to strangers... His mommy had told him so. He paced further back into the house, his screams of anger occasionally heard, but getting farther away.

Satoshi grimaced at Ayumi's plan, the horror of being the player in her plan laying on his shoulders. He wouldn't let Naomi do it, and Ayumi wouldn't be capable of it. He had to be a man. "Alright, I'll do it," he said with feigned confidence. His mind felt like it was blitzing out on him, the fear was overwhelming. He had to push past it, though. But, he wasn't so sure what spiritual pulse of energy he should let out... hopefully instinct would take over, because wasting energy practicing would be stupid.

"Okay..." Ayumi said, uncertainty in her tone. Satoshi was a coward, and she was afraid he'd back out. As much as she disliked him, she didn't want him to die... or be gravely injured. "We'll follow behind you," she told him, since separation was a dumb idea. Plus, once the ghost was out and some damage was dealt... she could move forward with purification and get all of this over with.

Satoshi nodded lightly, glancing at Naomi in concern before turning and walking towards the sound of the crazy ghost. His heart was pounding, and he felt ready to puke. He had no idea how he was even managing to function in this gross, decrepit place. Maybe it was being put in the role of protector that allowed him to continue on... Either way, the ramblings of the ghost was getting louder. His hand was on his hilt, even though his sword wouldn't be used at first... It was nice to have the protection nearby.

Yoshiki completely stopped at the sound of approaching footsteps. The strangers... were further in? Fury flooded his mind, his eye shaking with insanity. "Trespassers... Trespassers can be killed," he said as if he came to a wonderful revelation, his grin coming back and spreading wide. "Heeheehehehehahahahah!" Another echo of laughs, and then silence. _'This house is mine~! I know it better!'_ he chimed in his head, dashing off with quiet steps. He ducked into a closet, feeling as if this was a deadly game of hide and seek. As he heard footsteps, his smile grew more deranged, and when they came close enough he felt it was time to kill. "Khe khe" He sprung out with his arm lifted, aiming to bring the tenderizer down directly onto Satoshi's head. His other hand held the knife, but it was questionable whether it was actually a weapon, as his fingers were gripping it by the blade.

Satoshi's stomach dropped as he heard laughter. He had to constantly remind himself to be brave. That Naomi and Ayumi's lives were on the line, and he had to bring them home in one piece. The silence ended up being worse than the cackling, because he found himself on edge as he waited for the possessed person to come out. When he sprang out, the hand on the sword's hilt reacted quickly to pull the blade from the sheath and raise it up to take the impact of the tenderizer. Satoshi's movement had been quicker than his mind, a relief flooding him as his head wasn't harmed. The pressure of the tenderizer on the sword hurt his hands, though. He looked at the possessed person, his eyes widening into large saucers as he recognized the face. "Kishinuma!?" he questioned loudly, stunned for a moment.

Ayumi was very surprised as Satoshi managed to block the blow... It wasn't something she would guess he was capable of. She was very glad she was underestimating him, though. But, even from a distance, she recognized her classmate's face. Satoshi's cry confirmed her eyesight wasn't wrong. _'Crap!'_ she thought, more panicked that it was someone they knew. He was bleeding, badly. "Mochida! Do it!" she yelled at him, seeing the boy was stunned and that action really needed to happen.

Satoshi jerked to life at Ayumi's yelling command, her bossiness serving as a jolt to awareness as he pushed pressure up on the tenderizer to try and throw off the ghost's balance. If he managed to do that, he'd pull his sword back and tackle him with one of those spiritual bursts Ayumi instructed him to do.

Yoshiki hadn't expected his target to block at all, but that didn't mean he would let up on trying to bring the tenderizer down onto his head. Though, before he could get enough strength to overwhelm this boy, he was caught off guard again as he bounced him back, the defensive blow knocking him off balance. _'These aren't normal intruders...'_, he thought, his grin disappearing into a grimace as he realized that these people were an actual threat. He wanted to recover faster to bash in their heads, but the human body he was in was sluggish and dizzying.

Satoshi was surprised his motions and plans were working, because in normal circumstances, Yoshiki could kick his ass. From all the blood in his vision, he realized the ghost had really messed up Yoshiki's body. Satoshi moved forward quickly, dropping his sword to the ground as he moved forward and tackled into Yoshiki. The spiritual energy was weird to release as it was, without a filter. He forced it out with as much strength as he could, hoping that Ayumi's plan was accurate.

The impact of the spiritual energy rippled through his entire being, feeling like waves washing the hatred away. His body fell to the ground, unable to grasp any sort of consciousness from the earlier strike to his head and the sickening amount of blood loss. The knife and tenderizer fell to the side, and the hand that once held the knife was already creating a pool.

"GAAAAAAH! STRANGERRSSSS! HURTING MEEEE!" cried the spirit that was a little ways away from Yoshiki's body, his hands clutched tightly around his head and his eyes wide with anger. The house shook with his fury, more blue apparitions beginning to form further down the hall, being the spirits of people who had been killed here. The boy himself was quite young, and there seemed to be little connection between his limbs and neck. His eyes settled on Satoshi, an intense anger at the boy who had dispelled him. He launched forward and picked up the tenderizer, coming at him again with a scream of madness.

Satoshi quickly scrambled for his sword the second that the spiritual wave seemed to work. He stumbled to his feet, panting heavily as he had to celebrate a small victory in his head that it worked. Yoshiki seemed worse for the wear, and desperately needed medical attention. Satoshi's flinched as he saw the child, a nauseousness hitting him as he realized what the kid had gone through. The other blue spirits were all victims of the child, so it was somewhat hard to feel genuine sorrow for the violent, bloodthirsty creature. Satoshi once again brought his sword up to block the tenderizer, his arms trembled as he fought to keep the strength over the ghost. "Naomi!" he shouted, a request for her to shoot at the ghost. All Satoshi could do is block, but by doing that, he gave her a still target. Once the damage was done... hopefully Ayumi could do what she had to.

Ayumi stumbled over to Kishinuma's passed out body, trembling slightly by the amount of blood. "Don'tbedeaddon'tbedead," she mumbled quietly, as she pressed her fingers against his neck. She found a pulse and let out a breath of relief. She could hear Satoshi's struggle, but since she was no help in the fight, she figured she may as well try to help Yoshiki to some degree. She struggled to pulled his jacket off of him, since it was an extra bit of clothing he didn't need that could be used as a temporary bandage. She grabbed the knife that was dropped and, with a lot of force, cut the sleeve off the jacket. He would probably be pissed when he woke up, but he'd be alive. She took the sleeves and wrapped it tightly around his hand, then took the rest of the jacket and pressed it against his head wound.

Naomi had been overwhelmed by the situation, her whole body trembling and her legs felt like buckling. Her mind struggled to keep up with what was happening, and even more so to react correctly. She jolted slightly at her name, fumbling slightly as she tried to grasp the gun. Satoshi needed her... Ugh, but she was so scared. She gulped, aiming the gun with both hands to steady herself, and expelling her energy as instructed in the form of a bullet. The bullet hit Naoi's head, which she knew just to be luck, but she was thankful for it. The boy stumbled back with an anguished cry, dropping the tenderizer and covering the wound and his face with his hands. "GAAAAH MOOOOOMMYYYYYY!" he screamed, the pain in his head sending him back into his memories.

Satoshi took a few steps back as the ghost stumbled back from the impact. His chest with heaving, fear still flooding his senses. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. He looked over at Ayumi who was on the ground with Kishinuma. She felt his gaze and looked up, as if becoming reaware of what was happening.

Ayumi realized this may be her chance... hopefully. This closed space wouldn't be difficult to mend, due to its smaller size... the amount of ghosts looming the halls may make it take up more energy. She rose to her feet and approached the child slowly. She was afraid of the screaming, angry spirit... but with no weapon, she figured she should take the opportunity. She placed a hand on the child's head, surprised by how she felt like she was actually touching hair. She took a deep breath, sending out her own spiritual waves. These would have a completely different affect on the spirit than Satoshi's and Naomi's had. The pulses she sent out into the spirit would heal. Then, once the core was gone... she would be able to take care of the entire closed space. "It's okay," she said quietly to the child. "The pain will stop," she assured him, her voice barely above a whisper.

Naoi paused as Ayumi's hand was placed on his head. The contact felt oddly... warm. He lowered his hands and blinked at her with tears in his eyes, the warmth spreading through him in waves. The gunshot wound disappeared, and the shine to his eyes returned as the tears finally ran over the brim. "Is... miss Nusume gone?" he asked in a small sniffle, rubbing at his eyes as the tears ran down his face.

Nn, Nusume? The name didn't particularly ring a bell to Naomi, since she didn't know the specifics of the murder... She assumed it to be Naoi's killer, but she couldn't deduce anything more. She also guessed this one would be easy to cleanse from this point, since he was only a child. Her hands still shook as she laid her hands against her sides, watching the other spirits warily.

Ayumi knelt down, her hand staying on the little boy's head, as she just wanted to be closer to eye level with Naoi. The name drew a blank, but she could easily guess it was a babysitter or family friend of some sort. No matter who it was, she could garner it was his killer. She wouldn't ask the child specifically, such a detail could always be investigated at another point. She didn't want to keep the kid around any longer than necessary, since he deserved to move on, away from his pain. She smiled gently at Naoi, her head moving in a small nod. "She is," she replied. "You're safe," she told the spirit, keeping her own energy sinking into the child. "And your parents will be home before you know it," she added, her tone soft and confident. While his parents were still alive, they would cross the line to the afterlife eventually, the wait wouldn't be long for a ghost.

Naoi listened to her, smiling at the news of his parents coming home soon. "Really?!" he asked, his eyes almost sparkling. He wanted to see them! Then they could go to the amusement park, like they promised! His body faded from sight in a soft white light, and so did the tenderizer and knife.

Noami blinked, looking around. The 'core' was gone... now what? What would Ayumi do about the space? She refrained asking though, since it wasn't her duty, and plus she'd only be interrupting her focus or something. She gulped, still nervous as hell with the other spirits coming closer with viscous intent, but she would try and trust Ayumi knew what she was doing.

Ayumi blinked slowly as the boy disappeared, her hand left resting in thin air. The closed space began to shake, and she realized she had to act quickly. It would just assign a new core if she didn't act with haste. She stood back up, taking a deep breath. This would take a lot of energy and a lot of concentration... she still wasn't even sure what she was doing, but helping Naoi move on gave her a burst of confidence. She shut her eyes, her hands wrapping over one another against her chest. She concentrated on letting her powers spread. It was weird, to let herself let so much of her powers flow out, but she could feel the negative atmosphere begin to mend under her influence. It encouraged her to release a large burst. Under her, a large spell circle appeared and glowed, illuminating the hallway. Her hands clenched into one another, her mind feeling as if it went blank as she felt the space mending and fixing itself. The other spirits were stopped in the presence, slowly dissolving into white light. Then, with a spark, the spell circle expanded. The bright light was blinding, engulfing the house.

When the light faded, the four of them were in a normal hallway, clean of blood and otherworldly influences. Ayumi felt light headed, all her energy had been forced into that... She grinned, pride coursing through her that she did it. Her knees buckled under her as she slid to the wooden, dusty floor. She let out a breathless laugh, stunned that it had all went by pretty decently. Even with the Centurions she was assigned, they managed to cleanse a cursed zone. She couldn't stop grinning, despite how worn and achy her body felt.

Naomi was a little lost on what was happening, but she couldn't say it didn't look pretty. Not that she could really take in the view, since she had mostly been panicking with the other spirits and the shaking of the ground. Once the light engulfed them, she felt her worries ease slightly, even more so when she could see that they were in the normal world, the light of the evening peering through the house. She smiled lightly, but still couldn't help the shaking at the anxiety she had faced. She glanced at Ayumi, holding a hand up to her chest. "I know we're all a little worn out and feel pretty glad it's over, but shouldn't we get Kishinuma to a hospital? Those makeshift bandages won't stop the bleeding completely," she pointed out, and even though she didn't like him, that didn't mean she wanted him to die.

Ayumi glanced at Naomi and then back to Yoshiki. "Mm... no," she answered, pushing herself to her feet. Gah, that took a lot out of her. It wasn't even that large of a closed space... which is probably why her dad told her to take care of this one first. "We'll get too many questions at the hospital. No way to explain an accidental tenderizer to the head, after all," she explained as she observed Yoshiki's damage. "I can fix him up at my house. We have some stuff that works way better than what a hospital uses, anyways." She then looked over at Satoshi expectantly.

Satoshi jumped slightly at Ayumi's gaze, his head was reeling as he tried to keep up with everything. He took a moment to register what she wanted him to do. He sighed, resigning to the duty as he went over to Yoshiki and awkwardly adjusted him on his back to carry. He wasn't particularly thrilled with this, but he didn't want Yoshiki to die. Even if he was a jackass who punched him for no good reason. "Alright, let's hurry. He's heavy," Satoshi complained lightly.

Naomi blinked, at first a little shocked at her refusal, but as she kept talking and she kept thinking about it, it made sense. They could never really explain any of his wounds. He had cuts all over his hands and arm, and the blow to the head was the hardest to cover up. Plus, Ayumi sounded like she knew what she was doing, and she guessed her family would be prepared to tend for wounds that couldn't be treated at a hospital. She wasn't sure if she should follow them, since she wasn't really needed, but she ultimately decided to just in case she was supposed to or if she could maybe help out, unless Ayumi told her otherwise. There wasn't anything she wanted more than just go home and collapse onto her bed, this day coming to a close. So if she was excused, she'd take it without argument.

Ayumi didn't mind Naomi tagging along because her presence made it so Satoshi didn't bug her with conversation. The walk back home didn't take too long, but she was becoming more nervous about Yoshiki's condition. They got back to her house, and she pointed out a guest room for Satoshi to put Yoshiki in. She went off to get a medical supply kit and a lot of bandages, and when she returned, Satoshi had put Yoshiki on the bed. "Alright. Thanks. You two can go home now," Ayumi insisted, shooing the two out of the room and urging them back home. She could take care of Yoshiki just fine, and she honestly didn't like being around the two more than she had to. It wasn't like either were upset that she told them to go home.

She heard no stirrings from her father, so either he was out or sleeping. She sighed as she approached Yoshiki, frowning at how battered he seemed. She first addressed his head wound, since it seemed the most painful and dangerous of the bunch. She pulled his cut up, bloodied jacket off of him and began to clean the wound. She was glad he was passed out, so she could address the injury without having to deal with complaints of pain. Not that Yoshiki seemed like the type to admit he was ever in pain. Once she disinfected the wound, she opened a bottle and scooped a glop of clear gel. It would speed up the healing, and prevent scarring. It was a great creation, though very annoying to make. Her face went red as she unbuttoned his white shirt, and slowly managed to tug it off of him and onto the floor. His arms and hands looked awful, and the shirt had just been in the way of her working on them. It was a silly thing to get embarrassed about, but undressing guys wasn't something she did very often. She began cleaning the blood, as it had caked around his fingers and wrists.

Her mind went blank as she swiped away some blood with a wet cloth to reveal a golden mark on his wrist. "Huh?" she questioned, eyes widening in horror. She had thought she was only going to have two Centurions... but it seemed like she was getting another one, which she wasn't particularly happy about. He was hard to control, stubborn, untrustworthy, and lazy. All those traits added up to someone hard to work with. She sighed as she forced herself to continue working on cleaning and bandaging him. Her mind was buzzing in annoyance about the reveal of her third Centurion. "Dammitdammitdammit," she mumbled quickly, her eyes narrowing in annoyance. Naomi, Satoshi, and Yoshiki were her Centurions. She could honestly say that she didn't want a single one of them.

Ayumi finally finished the cleaning, the disinfecting, the application of the gel, and the bandaging. It all felt like it took forever, and she felt gross and dirty. He seemed completely out of it, so she'd just leave him in the bed to rest... She sighed, leaving the room to go take a shower, and then maybe make something for dinner. The whole time, though, she was seething mentally about the spirits choices, cursing them for their sick sense of humor.


	5. Chapter 5

Yoshiki stirred slightly, opening his eyes to find himself somewhere completely different. He sat up, the swift motion bringing dizziness and pain to his head, but he mostly ignored it. Now where was he? He looked at his hands, that were still trembling and stinging, but they were also cleaned and bandaged. He couldn't recall being saved by anyone... but he guessed it was an easy thing to miss in his situation. The entire thing had been painful and nauseating... He still felt like his mind was foggy... And apparently, every cutting sensation he had felt was real. There had also been a very strange melting together of his memories and someone else's, none particularly good. Not only had he been inflicted with his first head injury, but it had felt like two, similar ones had been to the back of his head... But he knew that hadn't happened... That would've surely killed him.

He pushed all of those thoughts aside and stood from the bed, stumbling a little at the wave of sickness but quickly recovered. He left the room and looked for a sign of life, pausing as he heard a shower running. He didn't really want to wait for whoever it was, but he had no other way of knowing where he was, and exactly why he was here. He went on about exploring the house to buy time, coming in to the living room. It had several family pictures, though it seemed the mom was missing in some. Not that that was the important part, actually... He was more focused on who the girl was. _'The class representative?'_ he questioned, stepping a little closer. Yeah, definitely her, but that only made him even more confused.

Ayumi finished her shower, her mind still reflecting on the choices of her Centurions. She hadn't even noticed the seal being made in the closed space... but her mind constantly felt pressure in such cursed zones, and there had been so much going on. She rubbed her hair dry, frustration hitting her as she realized she'd have to explain all this to him. Yoshiki didn't seem like the type to believe in ghosts, nor did he seem like he'd want to have that forced connection with her, Satoshi, and Naomi. She couldn't really blame him for that. She brushed her hair out, pulling it into her typical twin tails. She threw on her clothes, just a hoodie and skirt, because it still felt too early in the day to put on pajamas. She sighed as she left the bathroom, heading into the guest room Yoshiki was in to check on him. Her eyes widened in panic when she opened the door to an empty bed. "What?!" she questioned aloud. Did he actually wake up and start moving around? Goddammit, she should have just stuck around! She moved quickly through her house, which seemed way too large to her as she tried to find Yoshiki. Her pace was quick, heart pounding with worry that he might have stumbled somewhere and collapsed. She turned a corner and halted as she came into her living room, seeing Yoshiki very much okay. She let out an annoyed huff. "Idiot! You have a head injury! You shouldn't be up, walking around! Why wouldn't you have just stayed in bed!?" Ayumi scolded, since it was the only thing she could think to say to him as her worries ebbed away into anger.

Yoshiki kept glancing about the photos until his attention was taken away by the familiar scolding of his class's representative. It was a little strange that he could never remember her name, even though he had written it down. Maybe it was because there was never a proper introduction between the two... Eh, like it mattered. He looked at her a second before shrugging slightly, giving another glance about the room. "It's hard to stay put when you're in a stranger's bed," he commented dryly, directing his eyes back at her, "Besides, I'm fine. I can walk without falling, so that's a good sign." He did feel pretty dizzy, and his head throbbed with pain in a plea to lay back down, but it just felt weird to be resting in someone he hardly knew's house.

Ayumi looked at him, unamused by his flippant remark, and irritated that he wasn't taking his injury seriously. "Kishinuma, sit down. You're going to end up passing out again if you push yourself," she told him sternly. "You were hit in the head with a meat tenderizer, you are not fine." She got so irritated when people didn't take their own injuries seriously. It always just made things worse. Although, it was awkward having him in her house... and it looked like he had been looking at the family pictures her dad insisted had to stay up. She had to explain the entire Centurion thing to him, though... urgh, this was not going to be fun.

Yoshiki looked at her, noting her demanding voice. _'If you're... really concerned...'_ He sat in the nearest place, being a couch, with a sigh, lifting his hand carefully to touch his head. Both the gashes on his hand and the wound on his head gave painful stings and pulses to the movement and contact, so he decided to just settle down into the couch and only move if absolutely necessary. "So... that's what it was, huh?" he casually asked. He could remember vibrantly the moment, the pain of the strike, but he hadn't been able to see the actual weapon. He didn't ask her anything more, either feeling it was unnecessary to know the details or assuming she didn't know the answers to anything he had in mind.

Ayumi stood standing where she was, arms crossed over her chest as she observed him actually listening to her. She really hadn't expected it. It was nice to see that maybe he would listen to directions, it would make having him as a Centurion slightly more bearable. She raised an eyebrow at him as he didn't ask anything further. Wasn't he curious what happened to him? How he was saved? How he got to her house? Why he would even be hit in the head with a tenderizer? "Yeah, it was a ghost... Do you remember anything about being possessed?" she asked curiously, figuring she was going to slowly lead to revealing his new position. Actually, she didn't know what it was like being possessed... Did Yoshiki even realize this entire thing happened because of ghosts?

Yoshiki looked up at her with a raised brow at them mention of ghosts. It wasn't that he was a skeptic, he just never really thought about it being real, and that it would actually have to do with him. At her question, he looked down at the floor, trying to remember to the best of his abilities. "Possessed... Well, I remember being incredibly sick at first... and I could only see black... Then I started having weird memories, that weren't mine... I guess they were... the ghost's? I also felt the cuts as they were happening, and the ghost's past felt real..," he tried to explain, his head pulsing with pain from the recollection. It had almost made him wish he was dead... Especially right before he blacked out again. It felt like his arm was being torn apart...

Ayumi leaned back against the wall, looking up thoughtfully. He had experienced Naoi's pains... Though, it sounded like he was pretty unaware of what happened to his body while he wasn't in control. "I see... Well, while in control, the ghost damaged you a lot. I think that was his method of murder... Ah, anyways, Mochida managed to get the ghost out of you," Ayumi explained, as she twisted a still wet lock of hair between her fingers. She wondered if that little fact would piss Yoshiki off. She certainly hoped not, because the two boys would be seeing a lot of one another. It would be such a pain if they kept fighting.

Yoshiki blinked, his expression growing more agitated at Satoshi's name. He had saved him? Ugh, why couldn't he just have died... To be saved by someone like that... It just added fuel to his fire. He was the perfect student, the most popular, and now a savior? He didn't respond, his eyes narrowing at the ground as fury and, admittedly, jealousy grew strong inside his heart. He could do anything, couldn't he...?

Ayumi realized as Yoshiki's expression grew more irritated that she should have been quiet. But, Satoshi may have said it himself at some point, so it was probably better Yoshiki got the news out of the other boy's presence. "Uh... so..." Ayumi started awkwardly, eyes looking anywhere but at Yoshiki. "Look at your right wrist," she told him, tone more demanding. She was still sort of hoping she had seen the marking in a state of delusion. If he questioned her about it, though, she knew she wasn't seeing things.

Yoshiki paused, looking up at her strangely after she demanded he look at his wrist. But... he complied with her, carefully turning his hand over so the stinging wouldn't come back full force. He tilted his head slightly at the golden mark, glancing up at her. Since she had told him to, he assumed she knew what it was, so this time he would demand a little explanation. "What... is this thing?" he asked hesitantly, unsure if he liked where this was going. She knew about ghosts, possessions, whatever else, and seemed to know about this mark. Did it have to do with something supernatural too?

Damn. It had been there. Ayumi sighed, rubbing her neck as if it would relieve some of the tension in her head. "That's the mark of a Centurion," she started to say, pushing off the wall and coming over to sit in a large lounge chair. "And a Centurion is a person who the spirits choose to protect a Miko. The Miko's have the ability to cleanse closed spaces, which is where the ghost led you. They're like parallel dimensions created by wronged, angry ghosts. To prevent the world from becoming overrun, those with psychic blood, like me, are put on year long trials to cleanse as many as possible. Now, the Centurions are assigned to Miko's because Miko's have no means to protect themselves in closed spaces. You now have access to spiritual power. And before you ask: No, it isn't a choice," she explained, tired of spouting exposition. She paused, thinking over what she said. "Any questions?"

Yoshiki listened intently, knowing what he should be feeling at this news, but the reality was... he felt... _happy_. Fighting spirits wasn't really something he looked forward to, but protecting Ayumi gave him some sort of... purpose. A reason to be around... He cracked a small smile, but erased it quickly, since he doubted she expected anyone to be happy about this. "Uhh... is using 'spiritual power' instinctual?" he asked, not looking forward to any sort of training session, at least not right of the bat. Basics were always a pain to learn... It'd be nice if he could use it as if it was second nature now that he had this weird mark that gave him access to it. He knew he was probably taking this surprisingly well, but that was because... he was a no-good waste of space. He wanted to be useful to at least one person before he died.

Ayumi thought she caught a quick smile, but there was no way. She must just be imagining things, because it was gone before she could register it. He didn't seem particularly upset with the information, which was good. Actually, his question was interesting, because it seemed like he was just accepting the role. "Oh, um, to a degree. I mean, Naomi and Satoshi grasped the basics pretty quickly, and they're definitely not spiritually-enriched individuals," she said, leaning back into the chair. She was really worn out from the entire day... she had used so much of her powers, she felt drained. "There's a refinement factor, though, because a person needs to learn how to manipulate the energy to give them the results they want. If we're forced to fight a more powerful ghost, each hit is going to matter."

Yoshiki paused, forgetting Satoshi was indeed a part of this as well. Ugh, well, all he had to do was protect her. He wouldn't even talk to that prick if it wasn't necessary. "I guess... I'll learn more when you're actually showing me how," he answered, his tone giving evidence to his slight confusion. But still... he was picked to watch over her life. He wouldn't let himself fail. He couldn't mess this up too... As he thought, another question came to mind, but it had more to do with his poor memory or short attention span than with ghosts and this spiritual energy stuff. "Oh, and, uh... what was your name again?" he asked, looking over at her as he waited for a proper introduction.

Ayumi gave a slight nod of head, agreeing he'd figure it out once the first lesson took place. They'd have to wait for all his injuries to heal up, which wouldn't take too long with the help of the healing gel. His next question caught her off guard, and her first reaction was being a little offended. How the hell didn't he know her name? Ugh, he wasn't one to pay attention, though, it seemed. "I'm Shinozaki Ayumi," she answered simply. She had no need to ask for his, since she knew it because he was pretty infamous among the Junior class.

Yoshiki repeated the name several times in his head, then nodded. "Shinozaki... okay," he muttered, wondering what he was going to do now. He probably needed to head home... Staying at a girl he just met's house seemed strange. Though, there was a chance she wouldn't let him, considering she seemed pretty wary of his injury. As a test to see what she'd do, he made a move to stand from the couch. His head definitely still hurt and he felt off balance, but he wasn't going to just assume she'd let him stay. Plus, he was too prideful to admit that he did feel pretty faint.

Ayumi was watching him carefully, about to ask if he was hungry when suddenly he made the movement to stand. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" she asked quickly, eyes narrowed at him in annoyance. "You're supposed to be resting," she said sharply. She really didn't understand why he would even try to push himself. His head had been hit hard and his body was going to need time to recover, whether he liked it or not. She'd tie him to the couch if she needed to, she wasn't going to let him hurt himself further.

Yoshiki glanced at her, finding her concern weird and unexpected. After a moment, he grudgingly sat back down, placing his hands gently in his pockets. "Fine...," he mumbled, staring at the wall with a bored expression. Seemed he was a prisoner here for who knew how long... But he couldn't deny that... the care she expressed, whether it was general or just for him, was refreshing. She also, at school, seemed to want to push him into going to class, whereas no one else even bothered with it anymore. His eyes slid back onto her, his determination to return her care strong, since it was the first time something like this had ever happened.

Ayumi smiled, happy that he conceded easily to settle back down. Honestly, he seemed a little easier to control than she had previously assumed. Though, that may just be the result of him having lost a lot of blood and been knocked in the head. She was, once again, about to ask about dinner because she was starving when she heard footsteps.

"Ayumi-darling, I'm home! So how did your fir-" her father rounded the corner into the living room, a cheerful expression on his face as he was about to figure out how the closed space went. His expression quickly shifted into irritation as he spotted Yoshiki. "Why is there a boy in my living room?"

Ayumi had forgotten about this little detail... She swiveled the lounge chair around so she could look at her dad. "Hey, Dad," she greeted as she let the question stay unanswered for a moment longer. "This is Kishinuma Yoshiki, a classmate and the third of my Centurions. So, wipe that look off your face," she told him flatly, not feeling like being accused of fooling around with the delinquent.

Yoshiki turned his head slightly at the new voice. Upon seeing him, he instantly deduced that this was her dad, and also that this wasn't going to be a fun experience. He caught her dad's irritated look, which he returned without much hesitation. He wasn't very polite to adults, especially when they gave him that look, so that would probably make this ten times worse than it would be if it was any other boy. He looked over at Ayumi as she introduced him, returning his slightly annoyed look at her dad. He didn't make any sort of move to greet him, since he wasn't the friendly sort, and he already got off the wrong foot by tossing him such a look in the first place.

Ayato's expression became more annoyed as he realized that the kid was a punk, who probably had no respect for adults. Or women. And this little bastard would be hanging around his sweet, innocent daughter for a whole year? He wasn't happy at all that Ayumi's life was more or less in his hands. "He looks like a punk," Ayato observed, avoiding talking directly to Yoshiki.

"All the better to have fighting for me, right?" Ayumi joked lightly, because she couldn't deny the fact he was a delinquent. He hadn't been to school in days, apparently his parents had kicked him out, he got into fights around school, and he smoked.

"If he's a good fighter, why is he so messed up?" Ayato asked, observing the bandages wrapped around his injuries. No way would a decent Centurion be so hurt as a result of the ghost they had encountered.

"Oh, uh, so Nakashima, Mochida, and I went into the closed space and in there Kishinuma was possessed by the ghost. The ghost did all that damage to him while in his body," she explained quickly, figuring that covered the story well enough.

Yoshiki found himself only more angered at her dad's jab at his injuries. He could call him a punk or whatever, but he wouldn't take being insulted on something he hadn't even gotten a chance at trying yet. Especially when it felt really important that he was an actual asset to Ayumi. He desperately wanted to make his own smart ass comment, but bit his tongue and held it down. He sort of had a feeling this wasn't someone he should take lightly, especially since he'd probably be around him almost as much as Ayumi. It was probably best he just let Ayumi do the talking, and maybe even blot out anything the adult said. He didn't take criticism from adults well, since that seemed to be the only thing they enjoyed doing, so he was better off just cutting away from the conversation.

Ayato made a small grunt, acknowledging Yoshiki's damage wasn't done because of his own incompetence. Still, he didn't like the kid at all. Even if he hadn't said anything, the expressions on his face spoke volumes to the kid's character. What the hell were the spirits thinking? "So, I take it the closed space went by well?"

"I guess," Ayumi shrugged lightly. "I thought Mochida would be more useless, but he seemed to rise to the challenge. But, Nakashima was pretty useless until Mochida went shouting at her to shoot," Ayumi explained how her Centurions did. She had really figured Mochida would've been crying in a corner, but that was still a possibility. They didn't have many scary things happen to them, and their time in the house had been pretty short. When the missions became more challenging, all their minds would be tested to staying alert and focused. Nakashima had barely managed to make it through.

"Well, good job. You should be proud," Ayato praised his daughter with a bright smile.

"Yeah, sure," Ayumi responded with a bored look cast aside. She had felt proud of herself after the cleansing, but now she was just dreading the future. She wasn't sure what the Centurions could handle, and she wasn't confident in her own ability to cleanse more darkened closed spaces. She had felt like all her energy had been taken by the house, and it was so small...

Ayato frowned lightly at Ayumi. Her moods were hard to keep up with. "Ah, you must be starving. Why don't you go order some takeout?" he offered, hoping to raise her mood. Plus, he wanted a moment to talk to this little delinquent bastard.

"Oh... okay," Ayumi said as she rose from the chair, shooting her father a skeptical look. She honestly didn't want to leave the two males in a room together, but her stomach was begging for food and this way she would get her pick. She shot her father a strange look before exiting the room to go make a call for some food.

Yoshiki sunk into his seat slightly as Ayumi's dad suggested she leave the room. He knew where this was going... He stared at the wall in front of him, waiting for her dad to come address him specifically, probably throw a few threats around and some insults... But he didn't need more of that. He was already set on doing his best. He didn't need more people who didn't really know him taking punches at his character, since he had never done anything bad to a girl, and... if given a chance, he wouldn't take his duty lightly.

Ayato waited a few moments after Ayumi left the room to come closer, glaring down at Yoshiki. He could only hope that the spirits knew what they were doing. "Okay, let's establish a couple rules here," he began to say, because he knew this delinquent would be around Ayumi for the rest of the year. "One: my daughter is off-limits to you, so don't even dare try anything," he told him, since it was honestly the first fear on his mind. After a kind of decent guy like Satoshi, he was worried his daughter may be drawn towards a "bad boy." "Two: you hurt her in anyway, I will hunt you down. Three: when you are in closed spaces, she does not leave your sight. Not even for a _moment_. A Miko alone in those places don't last long, and if my little girl doesn't come home one day, it's on you and the other Centurions," he said, since he had said something similar to Satoshi and Naomi. He was terrified that his daughter wouldn't come home, but as someone who previously done the trial and already had a daughter go through it, he knew it wasn't an option.

Yoshiki turned his attention to Ayato, giving him a blank stare. He smirked slightly at his first rule, finding it unnecessary to mention. "Don't worry about that, I'm not interested," he mentioned, pulling his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms. He felt agitated at mentioning hurting Ayumi. Did he really think he was that bad? Ugh, he should be used to judgments like that by now. "I won't. I plan on taking this seriously," he informed him, his smirk turning back into a grimace. He wouldn't hurt her, he wouldn't leave her by herself, and he wouldn't back down.

Ayato was staring Yoshiki down, unsure how sincere the boy's words were. He had his doubts, since kids like this normally were selfish when push came to shove. He just had to remind himself that the spirits wouldn't have chosen him if he would allow Ayumi to die. "I hope you are, because a lot of lives depend on this work."

"I ordered pizza and some appetizers. It'll be ready in 15 minutes, so go pick it up," Ayumi announced coming back into the room. She was glad to see they were both in one piece. Though, they both looked pissed off.

"Eh? Why didn't you get it delivered?" Ayato asked her with a frown. Was she really trying to get rid of him?

"Because it's right down the street and delivery is a waste of money. It's number 87," she told him with a flippant hand motion to shoo him out.

"... Fine... Is he staying?" Ayato asked her, giving a pointed glare over to Yoshiki.

"Well considering he was hit in the head with a meat tenderizer, was cut up, and he was possessed earlier today, I'm going to have to go with: yes," she explained to her dad, looking impatient because she wanted him to leave and come back with the food quickly. She was starving.

Ayato just sighed in defeat. He almost couldn't stand how much like her mother she could be. He grumbled lightly that he'd be right back before exiting the living room.

Yoshiki was glad Ayumi had returned. It meant he could stop paying attention to Ayato, his eyes drifting back over to glare at the wall ahead of him. He was also glad he'd be leaving for a little bit, but wasn't too excited about staying over night with an overprotective father. Those were the worst to be around, especially when you had a bad attitude like he did. Ah, if only he knew the extent of what he did, he'd probably kick him out on the street. But, at least cruelness towards girls wasn't on his record, neither was letting people die when they were depending on him, and that part of him was probably going to stay clean. As he left the door, Yoshiki gave a long sigh, sinking further into the seat as he tried to bury his anger. He couldn't get too asshole-ish around that guy, or else he'd seriously be paying for it.

Ayumi glanced over at Yoshiki when she heard him sigh heavily. Her dad must have been being an overprotective jerk. Which was stupid, but she couldn't really blame him. Yoshiki looked like he was trouble in every sense of the word. She really hoped that wasn't the case, though, considering how much time they would be around one another. She certainly was going to bug him about his schooling and gross smoking habit, whether he liked it or not. "Sorry about him," she mumbled, feeling obligated to give the apology. She knew her dad was freakin' ridiculous, especially when it came towards his daughters. "I'd like to say he's not normally like that, but then I'd be lying," she admitted, feeling she may as well give Yoshiki some idea to what he will be dealing with.

Yoshiki glanced to Ayumi as she spoke, looking back to the wall as she continued. He gave a small shrug and shook his head. "It's fine, I'm used to it," he said simply, dismissing her apology. Though he couldn't really say he was used to staying over night with any adult like that. That part of it may or may not be a rough ride, depending on how much time he spent talking about him. His hands curled into fists slightly, so he could filter out his anger before it built up, and he quickly noticed that it wasn't nearly as painful as he expected. His head, too. All wounds felt like they had significantly improved, compared to the time it normally took. They still hurt, but he's had injuries before. They didn't usually go away this fast. He looked questioningly at his hands, but decided whatever it was, it was a good thing, and he didn't need to know exactly what was happening.

Ayumi couldn't help but wonder how bad Yoshiki's self-esteem really was. He seemed to accept his fate as a delinquent and expects everyone to see him as such. Everyone at school seemed to think he was a bad guy... And he did hit Satoshi for no good reason. Sure, they were spitting insults at one another, but adding violence was unnecessary. She frowned lightly, unsure how to read him. '_Well, I'll have plenty of time to learn'_ she realized. She really wasn't looking forward to this year. The Centurions and her were always going to be at one another's throat... she was good as dead. She realized that awkward silence that had fallen on them, and it just occurred to her how weird it was to have a boy staying over. She could only really think of one topic. "You haven't been in school for a while... Do you really think you should be missing so much? We're not even through September yet," she questioned, her arms crossed over her chest.

Yoshiki was a little annoyed at her subject choice, preferring to be quiet mostly, but she had already made it clear to him that she found him attending school was important, and part of her responsibility. "I mostly just needed a break..," he replied, not going into much detail. She'd probably think it was strange he'd skip the whole school day to avoid one teacher, but it wasn't that really. It was more like his anger sky rocketed when Tsubota jeered at him, above anyone else... He guessed because he was an ass of a teacher, insulting just because he thought he could... and in really extreme ways. After getting talked to by him, it was best to stay out of the way of any teachers or other students, since he was half afraid he'd blow a fuse at someone who didn't deserve it... as much as Tsubota did, anyways.

Ayumi raised an eyebrow at him, unsure of what he meant, but not taking the statement very seriously. "Yes, well, sleeping on the roof and in class can be exhausting," she said sarcastically. Honestly, he avoided everyone at school and ignored his work completely, yet he needed a break? It sounded beyond lazy to her. "But, you shouldn't miss anymore classes unless you're actually unable to get out of bed," she told him sternly. Because, there was a good chance after some closed spaces were dealt with, the four of them would be unable to attend school the next day. So, if he was missing days he was just lazy and days they were dealing with fatigue and injuries, he was rarely going to be in class. Which was unacceptable.

Yoshiki gave her a flat look at her sarcasm. Eh, she didn't know, and he didn't particularly care to tell her. "Why is that?" he asked in response to her stern command, even though she had said she owed him, he still wasn't satisfied. Casting the winning vote for class representative wasn't that big of a deal, especially since he was doing it to spite Satoshi instead of do anything for Ayumi. So really, he didn't see why she wanted to push him into class so badly. It's not like he needed to be in school to be her Centurion, so what did it matter to her?

Ayumi blinked at his question, surprised it was even necessary. "So you won't get kicked out before you graduate," she responded simply. It wasn't rocket science. Why waste all the years one put towards school to drop out before they get a degree? Even if he wasn't going to move on to a University, he shouldn't be so eager to give up something that represents years of work. Plus, it made the process of finding a job easier. Above it all, though, he would regret it if he dropped out. She truly believed that.

Yoshiki rolled his eyes and sighed. She really thought that's what he was asking? He wasn't _that_ stupid... "No, not that, it's just... why do you care so much about what I do with my life?" he asked with a raised brow, his arms crossed over his lap, "I just met you weeks ago, and you're pushing for me to graduate like I'm your friend." He was mostly skeptical because he had never met someone who stuck their nose in others business so much as she did. He had nothing to do with her life, so why should she worry about his?

Ayumi sat back down in the lounge chair, a little perplexed by the question. Why did she care so much? The ladies in the school's office were talking about what a lost cause he was. How he should just dropout and make things easier. Everyone seemed against him or uncaring, which led to him seemingly feeling that way about himself. She was really unsure how to answer the question. She was doing it because she wanted to, because it felt like the right thing. "I don't like seeing you wasting away," she finally spoke as her thoughts turned in her head. "And I can't stand the fact that the teachers and other students are expecting you to just fade away. It's not right to stay on the sidelines when you could have a positive effect on the game..." she tried to explain, though she wasn't so sure how well her thought process was in words.

Yoshiki listened, feeling something strange that he couldn't quite place. He turned his head back to the wall, his look dull, but he was thinking pretty heavily on what she said, and what exact emotion that was pooling deep down in his gut. Appreciation, perhaps? Though, he still didn't feel near as sure of himself as she appeared to feel about him. "What if I don't?" he asked simply, not shifting his attention from the photos adorning the wall. What if he had no impact on the 'game' at all? Or even a negative one? Not everyone was set in life to succeed.

Yoshiki was really testing her here, because she kept finding herself grasping for the right words. She leaned back in her chair, eyes drifting up to the ceiling. "There's always the next game, then. And then the game after that. Life is just a lot of opportunities that you can either take or leave behind. But, you won't know the impact you'll have until you try," she said as her legs crossed at her ankles. She felt kind of corny with the metaphor, but she really didn't mind too much. She was pretty sure Yoshiki had never really had people rooting for him or encouraging him to do something with himself, so she was determined to do that for him. Even if he was a slacker and a delinquent, it didn't mean he always had to be.

Yoshiki fell silent, somewhere along the way his eyes sliding down to his lap. He already felt pretty good about the impact he'd have in any game of life... Except the one he was picked specifically to play. One game, and he'd give it his all, so Ayumi could come out of this trial thing alive. No sitting on the sidelines this time, but school was... a different game. A game he didn't like the other players in, or the coaches, or the referees, who always called him out whether or not he had actually done anything wrong. The quietness between them increased as he just stared at the bandages on his hands, wondering if he'd actually end up listening to this strange girl.

Ayumi figured he was thinking, or at least she was hoping he was considering her words. She felt herself becoming bored in the silence, so she pulled the remote out and turned on the tv. She just picked out an anime adaption to a manga she keeps up with, because she felt like something lighthearted after today's closed space. She heard the door open, her dad coming in with the food and heading to the kitchen. A minute later he came out with plates of pizza and drinks for the two, silently. Ayumi mumbled a small thanks, getting a small pat on the head as a response. Ayato gave Yoshiki a flat look before leaving the living room. Ayumi sighed happily as she finally had food. After a few bites, she remembered a small detail. "Oh, yeah... I uh, sort of used your uniform jacket as a bandage for you... and sorta cut it up to manage that. Sorry, I can reimburse you," Ayumi told him, unsure how he'd react.

Yoshiki returned Ayato's flat look, unable to help himself, even though he had gotten him food. He knew had Ayumi not ordered something for him, Ayato wouldn't have brought it upon himself to. It didn't feel like a particular act of virtue on his part. He looked over at Ayumi when she talked, after eating a bite of the pizza. He swallowed, shrugging lightly. "It's alright. You saved me, so I can't really complain," he mentioned, taking another bite. Yeah... pieces of uniform were expensive, especially for someone like him, with such a low budget in the first place. But he'd manage. Besides, the jacket wasn't even required to show up for school. He could go without one for a while. "No need," he said after swallowing, denying any sort of charity she offered. He didn't need pity, especially in the form of money. He could take care of it himself.

Ayumi certainly wasn't going to press the matter, because money was such a sensitive topic. She didn't want to get on Yoshiki's bad side. Although, she might with what she was about to say. "Alright," she replied, figuring he'd manage to get another jacket somehow. "I also threw away your cigarettes, because you have to stop smoking," she told him flat out. Her eyes never left the screen of the television as she munched on her pizza. Besides the fact that she wouldn't stand for any inch of the shrine to smell like smoke, he was also screwing up his lung capacity, which would mess him up with battles and training. He'd see after a few weeks how much easier it was to breath when you weren't constantly sucking in gross smoke.

Yoshiki's docile mood was somewhat cracked by her next mention. Even though it was throwing away his property, she was talking about it so much more casually than his jacket. Yeah, he had paid for his jacket too, but at least it had been trashed for a good reason. He gave her a small glare, putting down the pizza was about to take a bite out of. "Eh? Is throwing away my property going to become a habit?" he asked sharply, since he couldn't really ask why she threw them away. He knew it was bad, but it calmed him down considerably. If she barred him from them, his fuse would grow a lot shorter.

Ayumi blinked as she looked over at him, seeing his glare directed towards her. She knew that little tidbit was going to irritate him, but she refused to back down from it. She was going to have him quit smoking, because there was no good reason to smoke. "If I ever see a new pack of cigarettes on you, it will be," she responded with a smile. She wasn't going to back down from forcing this on him, even if he probably was easier to deal with while not going through nicotine withdrawal.

Yoshiki narrowed his eyes at her, feeling a long and rough road ahead of him. It'd be hard not to buy anymore... Hell, he'd probably sneak a few in, if he could. But he knew she was serious about this, so it was best he didn't take her 'threat' lightly. He didn't have the money to be wasting it on something that would be thrown away, even if it would be... incredibly hard not to. He sighed, directing his attention back to the TV, though not really focusing on the show as he ate. It was useless to argue with her... she was almost as stubborn as him, it seemed.

Ayumi had expected more of an argument, but he seemed to accept it. Or rather, he probably didn't want an argument. He probably had no illusion that smoking was anything but bad for his body, but smokers got trapped into the habit because it made them feel calm. She would just have to keep an eye on him in school while he was getting cut off, because she didn't need him getting in a fight with anyone. She finished her pizza and got up, figuring it was a good time to reapply the gel for the night. He may need another application in the morning in some spots, but for the most part, his healing progress should be pretty far along. She came back with the first aid kit she had left in the guest room, looking over his bandages. She could see red leaking through some of them. "I should probably reapply some gel and put some fresh bandages on you," she explained to him. It was going to be a little more awkward now that he was awake, but it had to be done.

Yoshiki was finished eating sometime before her, but hardly even noticed her get up and walk off as he was absorbed in his own thoughts, and slightly panicked knowing that he would be forced into some sort of rehab. He turned his head to look at her, eyeing the medical kit. Gel? That was an unfamiliar item to be in a med kit... Was it the thing that was allowing him to recover so quickly? He guessed so... He relaxed slightly in the chair, a wave of drowsiness coming over him as he waited for her to do whatever she had to with his injuries. After this, he probably needed some sleep. Being possessed left him strangely fatigued.

Ayumi figured he was fine with her treating him again, so she opened the kit and put it aside on the table. She walked up to Yoshiki and started with his head wrap first, because that was the wound she was most worried about. She put the dirtied bandage aside as she checked his head. It looked a lot better, which was a relief. She scooped some gel out of the container and began to apply it to the spots on his scalp that were still injured. She felt a lot more aware of her actions since he was awake, so she was doing things as gently as she could manage. With the gel applied, she wrapped his head tightly, because she didn't want the bandages falling off when he slept. She then moved in front of him, sitting on the table and moving to work on his hands. They looked better too, which wasn't a surprise. She was a lot more conservative in the use of gel on his arms, since the gashes had been reduced to scratches. They'd most likely be gone by the morning. She wrapped his arms up, glad they weren't bothering to try and speak during the entire thing, because she felt very awkward. Once finished she closed the top of the gel container and stood up, putting it away into the first aid kit.

Yoshiki closed his eyes the entire time, finding it a good place to rest his brain for a few minutes as she worked at replacing bandages and putting on that strange gel. Even though he could tell she was being gentle with it, it didn't really hurt him at all, and it felt more calming than anything. As she finished with the last wrap, he didn't hesitate to stand, feeling considerably less dizzy than he had earlier in the day. "Thanks...," he said, turning to go into that guest room, following his memory on where it was. "Night," he said with a casual throw of his hand, shutting the door behind him. He stood for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. He went forward and picked up his shirt, noticing the sleeves had quite a few darker stains. He wouldn't be able to wear that tomorrow, and unlike the jacket, it was necessary... Eeh, he'd figure something out... He sighed, tossing it to the side and laying on the bed his a hand behind his head, the other held up so he could examine the mark on his wrist. He smiled faintly, the fact he now had a purpose was elating.

Ayumi nodded lightly at his thanks, and echoed his sentiment as he disappeared into the guest room. She sighed lightly as she collapsed back on the couch, blinking tiredly at the television. Satoshi was going to flip tomorrow when Yoshiki was revealed to be a Centurion. It actually made her laugh a little, even though their rivalry was most likely going to be a pain in the ass to deal with. It was nice to know she wasn't going to be stuck alone with Naomi and Satoshi anymore, since it had a weird third wheel vibe to it. After all, the two of them were friends... Satoshi was in love with Naomi. Naomi probably liked him back, otherwise she had no good reason to be such a bitch to Ayumi. Not that Yoshiki was even her friend, but at this point she tolerated him best. She yawned as she forced herself to sit up and turn off the television. She grabbed the dirty plates and dropped them into the kitchen sink before dragging herself into her own room. She fell onto the bed, grabbing a stuffed animal and hugging it closely. She had her three Centurions... and she was officially in the role of Miko. The entire thing just terrified her, but she would push through. She really didn't have much of a choice.


	6. Chapter 6

Yoshiki had gotten up early to attempt to clean the blood from his shirt, since he couldn't show up to school without it, for the dress code and the marking on his wrist might be taking as a tattoo. It took a while, but he managed to get it clean using a variety of items. After that was done, he settled on the couch and removed the bandages from his arms and hands, finding the injuries were completely gone. Even though he had noticed the quick recovery yesterday, he hadn't anticipated that they'd be completely healed in just a day's time. He gave his head an experimental touch, but it still ached slightly, so he decided to leave it alone. He tossed on his shirt and buttoned it up, but was too antsy to go back to sleep afterword, without having smoked for a whole day, so he'd have to play the waiting game for Ayumi. Once she had been up, and reapplied that stuff to his head, he wasted no time getting out of the house, ahead of her. Leaving at the same time and, technically, walking there together was not something he wanted to do, especially with Ayato breathing down his neck the entire time he had stayed.

He had shown up to class, deciding to take Ayumi's advice... to at least try and play by the teachers' rules. But of course, as the day wore on, he ran into a road block. His most hated teacher, who held the same disdain for him. He had been hoping for a peaceful silence today, since he was dealing with an absence of nicotine, but he had no such luck.

Tsubota had made a note to stop Yoshiki that day because of the bandages wrapped around his head. He normally was quick to hear about the fights the Kishinuma kid got into, but it seemed one missed him. "'Ey, Kishinuma," he greeted in his normal, boisterous voice. "You get in another fight? Seriously, your parents are lucky they don't have the constant burden of a brat like you in their lives," he said, shaking his head at Yoshiki's intolerable behaviors. "But, anyways, I've heard you've been hanging around Shinozaki Ayumi lately," he added with a sneer. "She's a good student, unlike you. She has focus, determination, and drive. She's one of a handful of good ones in this place and I'd really hate to see you pulling her down that hole you've dug yourself into," he warned, arms crossed over his broad chest.

Yoshiki glared, his intense hatred for the physical education coach evident in his eyes. He remained bitterly quiet for the first moments of the insults, the mentioning of his parents something he had heard before. His anger was already escalating, dangerously fast because of his unstable emotions... er, more erratic than normal. He narrowed his eyes at Tsubota, tired of everyone assuming he'd still only be a hindrance, even to Ayumi. "I won't," he answered simply, contempt in his tone. He had no intention of pulling anyone else into this lifestyle, because he knew it was an awful, cruel cycle. _'Just let me go... or damn it all to hell, I'll knock you out here and now'_, he thought, trying to move past him as if the conversation was through.

Tsubota's hand fell heavily on Yoshiki's shoulder to stop him from walking past. He wasn't going to let the arrogant delinquent just get away so easily. He always had more he wanted to say to the punk. He needed the discipline since he wasn't getting any at home. "I don't remember dismissing you," Tsubota stated with a smirk. "Your lack of respect is one of your biggest faults, Kishinuma. You act as if you're above everyone when really that isn't the case at all. You should learn some manners!" he told him letting out a big laugh after he finished speaking as if it would make what he was saying appropriate to say to a student.

Yoshiki flinched slightly as he was stopped by Tsubota's weighty grip on his shoulder. His hands clenched at his sides, the want to beat him senseless almost too strong to hold down. Instead, he'd just shoot venom, even though it would only make it worse. He couldn't stand for this asshole and his snide remarks. "Your lack of deserving respect is a pretty big fault too," he shot back after Tsubota's boastful laugh, his tone low and agitated. Of course, he couldn't deny that he treated adults the same as he treated people his age, but this guy didn't deserve any sort of respect. He was a sleazy bastard who thought he could say whatever he wanted, because he thought himself such a perfect person that he could talk so down to someone he should be helping.

Tsubota's grip on Yoshiki's shoulder tightened slightly, his eyes cast down on the smart-mouthed student with disdain. "Another problem right there. Instead of actually manning up and trying to improve away from your complete failure status, you just spit out smart-ass replies," Tsubota criticized, not taking Yoshiki's words to heart at all. He was just a dumb kid who never put any actual effort into anything. He had no reason to care about what he said. "You're never going to achieve anything in your life at this rate. A sad high school dropout with nothing to his name. You're going to be an example of what not to be," he told Yoshiki.

Yoshiki grimaced as the words he had thought of earlier were being said by the person he hated most. A failure, a good-for nothing, only useful to show everybody else how not to be. That was his only contribution. Though, just because he agreed in his head didn't mean he'd let the coach have his fun. He smirked at Tsubota, seemingly untouched by his insults. "At least then you won't have to be in that boat by yourself anymore," he said, not missing a beat in their exchange of jeers and smart-ass comments. Tsubota definitely was an example to other teachers how not to be, so he didn't see him as all that different. Yeah, they weren't the same kind of 'evil', but this coach definitely was not a good influence, though he liked to pretend he was.

Tsubota wished he could smack this arrogant brat around a little bit, but he wasn't going to push his discipline that far. "Ha! Like we're anything alike. I do my job well, even if a good-for-nothing kid like you doesn't realize that. My form of discipline has changed the lives of countless students for good. Don't think so highly of yourself to put us in any similar rankings," he told him with a sneer. Ugh, the kid deserved a good smack. Although, the kid's lack of respect was because of his crappy parents, but at this point Yoshiki was on his own and needed to take responsibility.

Yoshiki couldn't stand this guy... He hated people who thought they were on a higher pedestal than him... While Tsubota was technically a teacher, he had in no way earned that title. These types pissed him off the most... It was like with Satoshi, only it was magnified by the thousands, because admittedly unlike Satoshi, Tsubota had no good merit. His fists shook slightly, his anger only building at how smug this bastard was. He wanted to punch him... Beat him to a bloody pulp... And what was there to stop him? Some petty consequence like getting kicked out? It wasn't like he'd succeed here anyways. He mys well go out doing what he always wanted to...

"Mr. Tsubota?" Ayumi's voice cut in between the two, the older male's eyes shifted from looking down at Yoshiki over to the young girl.

"Ah, if it isn't the class rep. What's up?" he asked her, a hand on his hip. He was always ready to listen or help one of the good students, even if he did have a few more choice words he'd like to say to Yoshiki.

"The vice principal is looking for you. You're needed in the staff room," Ayumi explained with a polite smile. She really couldn't stand this teacher, he was a giant jerk who rarely said anything appropriate. She'd be happy if she got through this conversation quickly.

"Ah, is that so? Alright," Tsubota said, taking her words without question. He paused for a second as his eyes observed her. "Hmm? Shinozaki, you've got great eyes, you know that? Always so clear and focused!" He burst out loudly in laughter, though Ayumi didn't get what was funny. "We instructors like your kind best of all. If you ever have a problem, you come talk to me about it," he told her, eyes glancing back at Yoshiki with a pointed glare. "Okay?" He went into another round of laughter as he walked away from the students in the direction of the staff room.

Ayumi's polite expression shifted into disdain the moment that Tsubota was out of view and earshot. "That guy's the worst," she mumbled.

Yoshiki stared at Ayumi, curious as to whether or not what she said was the truth. His glare returned as he looked at Tsubota, who was laughing. Ugh, what a creepy thing for a teacher to say... It sort of made his anger flare, but it seemed he was going to leave him alone... for now, so he'd have to hold it down. He turned his head to watch him leave, not redirecting his glare even as Ayumi spoke. He hated that son of a bitch... enough to make him want him to drop dead. A moment after Tsubota had disappeared down the hall, he looked to Ayumi, still puzzled on exactly why she kept popping up to help him. By her comment and expression, he could guess that the 'needed in the staff room' was a lie, which only confused him further. "Th... thanks..," he muttered, looking to the side slightly.

Ayumi's gaze went to Yoshiki at his 'thanks,' but she felt a burst of frustration with him. "You're not really any better," she told him with a stern look. "You were thinking about hitting him just now, weren't you?" she asked pointedly, even though she knew the answer. If she hadn't intervened, Yoshiki would have done something very stupid. "What a sad fate it would be to get kicked out of school over a pathetic excuse for a teacher like him... And you'd regret it later. You know you would. No matter how much of a pain in the ass it may be, and no matter how much you think it'll turn out in the end... just stay in school! Bite your tongue, and make it to graduation! Honestly..." Her voice had started off softer but quickly ended up with her voice raising and sharpening. She sniffled lightly, rubbing away the welling tears in her eyes. She had a bad habit of tearing up pretty easily, especially when speaking as she was. She needed him to understand he just needed to stay in school.

Yoshiki looked at her, somewhat surprised by her small outburst. Geez, he really didn't know anyone like this girl... She was so weird... and already seemed to know him well enough to know his own thoughts. It was kind of creepy in way, but he didn't have time to think very heavily on it as tears started to form. He glanced around, since to some it may look like he made her cry, and he didn't need that kind of rumor going around. "Wh-why are you crying?" he asked with a raised brow, unsure of how to deal with this sort of emotion, especially when he didn't know the source. She certainly wasn't crying over him, right? There was no way that was why.

Ayumi felt herself a little embarrassed by the show of emotions, but she honestly had no control over it. "Sorry," she said, blinking away the residual burning feeling behind her eyes. "Whenever I give an impassioned speech like that, I always find myself tearing up a little," she admitted with a faint blush. She felt the need to apologize for her nosiness as well, since he must be getting a little irritated by her. "Also, sorry to have butt in like that," she added. She certainly didn't regret stepping in though, otherwise Yoshiki would be getting expelled at the moment.

Yoshiki didn't really know why a speech would make you cry... He guessed it was just one of those things that were different for some people. He relaxed slightly as she seemed to calm down, glad he wouldn't have to deal with a crying girl. He gave a light shake of his head at her apology, but didn't understand why. Of course he found her persistence annoying, so why was he relieved she had come in to stop the violence to come? "It's... fine," he answered hesitantly, since he was still wondering what was going on with him, "Though, I guess it would've been nice had you decided to 'butt in' sooner." The only thing he found dissatisfaction in was her timing. It seemed like she was fine with him being battered by Tsubota's words, only coming in when he was about to take action.

"Well, I was only passing through 'cause Mr. Tanaka asked me to pick up the papers he left in another classroom," Ayumi explained with a small shrug. "And then I saw you two, and you were obviously on the edge of losing it..." she recalled, aware of his fighting face because of the clash between him and Satoshi. "Really, who even considers hitting a teacher?" she sighed, shaking her head at him. She hated adults as a whole herself, but she still knew that feigning respect made things worlds easier. "Anyways, I have the papers, let's go back to class," she told him. She was hoping he'd just agree because he had actually been attending earlier, and she would hate Tsubota even more if he screwed up the small possible progress she made with getting Yoshiki to class.

Yoshiki shot a look at her, about to say something along the lines of 'a person who's being forced into rehab', but held his tongue at the remark. He, for some reason, didn't want to direct his anger at her. Well, she was only trying to help, even if that help was driving him mad. He looked at her for a moment, before looking to the side and letting out a grudging "Alright." He shoved his hand into his pockets, following her back to class.

* * *

Ayumi had sent texts to Naomi and Satoshi during the day that they had to talk after school. She could have just told them, but honestly she would rather avoid talking to them. She just mentioned it quickly to Yoshiki before they got back to the classroom. The other two had to be informed there was a third Centurion, and she needed to inform the group about a detail they probably didn't know. She sighed as she leaned against one of the big oak trees that decorated the school yard.

Satoshi had been hoping he could get a day without Centurion business, but the text from Ayumi quickly destroyed that hope. It seemed it would be an almost everyday thing for the rest of the year... At least Naomi was a part of all this. Not that he wanted her in the closed spaces, it was just nice to have a friend around because Ayumi's frost queen act hadn't thawed at all. He saw her standing alone and cringed slightly, but he wanted to be amiable.

"Hey, Shinozaki," he greeted with a sheepish smile.

"Hi, Mochida," she replied with a bored tone. She knew that smile would be off his face the second Yoshiki came around...

Naomi grimaced at the text as she walked, very tempted to just skip out. But, she couldn't. She was afraid to, mostly, still fearing what 'bad luck' may be. Her family dropping like flies? Getting into all sorts of horrible accidents? Ugh, she didn't want to think about it... so, she showed up anyways. She smiled slightly, figuring she shouldn't be too rude to Ayumi if she was going to be around her so long. She nodded to the two, holding her hands behind her back. She was about to ask exactly who the third Centurion was before Yoshiki cut in between her and Satoshi. Oooh no, not _him_...

He cast a smirk at Satoshi, unable to treat him with any sort of decency. "Hey Satoshi. How does your face feel?" he asked in amusement, holding his hands in his pockets.

Satoshi's expression darkened as Yoshiki came into the picture, dread hitting him fast. No way could he work with Yoshiki! This was a sick joke! The reminder of getting punched quickly made Satoshi's blood boil, but they were still on school property... Plus, he probably wouldn't win in a fight. He decided to ignore Yoshiki and look at Ayumi. "You're kidding," he said to her, hoping Yoshiki wasn't actually a Centurion.

"I'm not that good a comedian," Ayumi joked, trying to hide a rising smirk. Ahhh, she really shouldn't get as much of a kick out of this as she was. "But, yeah, Kishinuma is the third Centurion," she said to confirm any doubt the other two may be having.

Satoshi glared over at Yoshiki, wondering if there was a way to get through the year working together, while still never speaking. No way was this was going to work...

Naomi eyed Ayumi worriedly, shaking her head. Not only was this guy such a jerk to Satoshi for no reason, he couldn't possibly be a good Centurion! "Th-that can't be, he's not fit for this kind of thing," she said, not even looking at Yoshiki, certain he was giving her a look. She couldn't help but heavily judge upon the delinquent, even though she couldn't say she knew that he'd be bad at protecting Ayumi. She just 'knew' that he was selfish, someone like that couldn't be chosen by whoever or whatever chose Centurions! Not when Satoshi was also chosen. They were polar opposites! Good and evil!

Ayumi's amused expression quickly snapped into irritation at Naomi's words. She was _so_ sick of hearing people put him down, and the fact it was someone she disliked saying it made her feel venomous. "What? You really think you and Satoshi are so much better? Satoshi is a scaredy cat who can't watch a scary move without his hands on his eyes the entire time and you were hardly any help in the closed space," she criticized quickly. "And if we're talking basis of pure character here, I can safely say that you two shouldn't be so quick to judge yourself better," she snapped. She realized right after the words had come out of her mouth that she was getting too personal. She shouldn't be yelling at people who she was depending to watch after her life, but she was so angry and she had so much baggage with those two.

Naomi stared, her eyes wide at Ayumi with her hands held up to her chest. Wh-what was her problem? Why was she standing up for him, anyways? He had never done anything good for anybody, and while she may had been too scared last time, she would get better. Yoshiki's faults laid in his personality, something she didn't really think could be truly fixed. He seemed the kind of person to ditch another person's life to save his own, but that's only because she saw everything negative in Yoshiki. He wasn't a diamond in the rough, he was just the dirt that made the real gems stand out. Still, she couldn't really say anything to Ayumi at this moment, so she stayed bitterly quiet, her neutral smile gone, a frown replacing it.

Ayumi looked at Naomi, taking her silence as a way of backing down. She sighed, trying to shake off the irritation. She was tempted to hit the next person that tried shutting Yoshiki down, though. Tsubota, the ladies in the office, Naomi, Satoshi, her own father, the list went on and on with people just expecting him to fail. Urgh, she had called them there for more reasons than just introducing Yoshiki as the next Centurion. She pulled her bag in front of her and pulled out a map that covered the city and some of the area around it.

"A map?" Satoshi questioned, fighting to keep himself from not looking at Naomi. Ayumi could be really mean...

"I forgot to mention something else about all of this. We're going to have to investigate closed spaces on our own. The one my dad gave me was one he specifically found and picked out, but now we're on our own," she explained to the three. They weren't just going to be given missions, they would have to find them on their own.

Naomi eyed the map curiously, finding the task arduous. So, they had to find these places, and cleanse them? Ugh... "That doesn't sound fun..," she muttered, trying to speak mainly business with Ayumi, "So... we just look for places with bad history, and investigate them for closed spaces?" She figured that's how it worked. It wasn't like they could go onto the internet and search for the location of closed spaces. Though, she didn't really want to seek these places out... The first one had been bad enough, and she could guess that it was a place to test beginners...

"Oh, well, not exactly. We live in a city. Every inch of this place probably has some bad history behind it," Ayumi began to say as she leaned back against the tree. Finding the closed spaces would be difficult in their own way. "And not every murder or awful death creates a closed space as a result. Rather, we have to keep up awareness of supernatural activity..." she explained, though it wasn't a great answer. "Like people disappearing in patterns..."

"How are we going to find out about things like that, though?" Satoshi questioned, ruffling his hair in anxious energy.

"Well... keeping up with the news... There's a big occult community online that discusses supernatural activity," she responded as she looked at the map in front of her. It was a huge city, and there was a strong possibility that there were dozens and dozens of closed spaces... She wasn't really sure how she was going to pinpoint the exact activity spots, though.

Naomi and Yoshiki listened, but Naomi was giving more of a distressed look. They had to examine the news for patterns? Ugh, she was going to have to spend any of her time not in the actual spaces looking for them it seemed... But, at least it meant they wouldn't be going to closed spaces everyday. They had to find them first. "I-I see...," she muttered, blinking at the map, but was pretty sure she understood. "So... does this mean we don't have to go into one today?" she asked hopefully, finally looking at Ayumi.

"Yep, you two are free today," Ayumi told Satoshi and Naomi. They had no leads on closed spaces at the moment, and she was going to have to organize a way of them systemically finding them... If only they could hire people to do such extensive work. She turned her attention to Yoshiki, because he was another reason they couldn't go into a closed space quite yet. "We need to figure out what you're going to be fighting with in closed spaces," she explained to him briefly.

Yoshiki looked more alert as he was addressed specifically. A weapon, huh? He wasn't as nervous as the others had been. It may actually be a good release for his frustration.

"Well, if that's it, I'm going to head home," Naomi interjected, feeling she wasn't needed, and therefore didn't have to stay. Why should she care what Yoshiki got as a weapon? And the choice wasn't up to her, nor did she need to train him any. So, she didn't even wait for a response, making a move to leave the small group and head home.

Satoshi was quick to mutter goodbye as well and leave because the less time around Yoshiki, the better. Ugh, he wanted to get him back for that punch in the face so much, but Satoshi really didn't like violence. He realized it was necessary at points, but it was best to avoid it... It seemed like avoiding it wouldn't work forever, though.

Ayumi watched as the two left, putting the map back in her bag as she began to walk, expecting Yoshiki to realize he should follow her. "Y'know, you really shouldn't make such an effort to piss Mochida off..." she mentioned offhandedly. "You two are going to be working together," she added as explanation. She doubted the two boys would easily be able to find equal ground, but they were going to have to manage something.

Yoshiki followed her, thankful the other two had left. He hated Satoshi, and Naomi had already made it apparent that she was the like the rest of the students. He cracked a small smile, looking at her with a raised brow. "You shouldn't piss off your guards either," he said, poking a little fun at how fiercely she had insulted Naomi. Not that he hadn't appreciated her standing up for him, but she was no better than him about holding grudges and spitting a little too much venom.

Ayumi smiled lightly, because she couldn't really argue that she had attacked Naomi a bit harsher than was really necessary. Though, she'd never admit such a thing to Naomi. "Point taken," she conceded. "Although, is there any reason you dislike Mochida so much, besides the stuff you insulted him in class for that one day?"she inquired, since she had fessed up her conflict with Satoshi, she didn't feel too nervous about asking him if there was more of a reason.

Yoshiki considered her question, looking up at the sky with a thoughtful expression. "It's a little hard to put into words..," he said, looking to the side. He still held his ground that jealousy wasn't the reason. His thoughts weren't of envy. He didn't want anything Satoshi had, particularly. It pissed him off, though, that he was given such an easy life. A free ride through adolescence. His innocence in life is what burned in his chest. He didn't have to know his personality to dislike him. If anything, he was playing the first obstacle for Satoshi, so he'd get a taste of the turmoil life wrought.

Ayumi nodded thoughtfully, since she could understand that. She really disliked Naomi for what felt like more reasons than just jealousy... although, it may be traits that felt worse because of said jealousy. It was hard to tell when she was being biased or not. "Well, you're going to have to find a way to work with him," she told him, although she realized she was being a little hypocritical. She needed to find a way to work with Satoshi and Naomi without letting all the relationship stuff get in the way...

Yoshiki eyed Ayumi curiously, finding her words strange. She surely didn't like having Satoshi be around, him being her ex and all. Was she already able to work with him decently? If so, it was prettying shocking, but granted that her life depended on teamwork, she was a little cornered. "I guess so, but you probably aren't any happier he's one of your guards," he pointed out, his interest a little piqued, "How do you stand to work with him?" He asked this assuming that she had already forced herself into getting along with Satoshi.

Ayumi looked away at the question, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. The two had managed to get through a closed space without any big issue... Honestly, Satoshi had to be very angry to actually engage her in an argument. "Well... uh... I'm mean to him... _verbally_. I mean, I'm just generally cold... and he listens to what I say without any problem, because I think he's afraid of me," she admitted. Satoshi was probably nervous as all hell that they'll get back into one of the many fights they had over his feelings for Naomi, in front of Naomi. She couldn't blame him for the fear either, because she wasn't so sure what she would or wouldn't say in the heat of a moment.

Yoshiki smirked, being able to see what she described so well. He was certain Ayumi could be harsh, judging by her words to Naomi, and Satoshi probably knew how bad she could get too. He seemed to hate arguments, or having someone angry at him, so he could definitely envision him becoming submissive to Ayumi. However, it wouldn't be that easy for him. Satoshi probably knew he couldn't beat him in a battle of brawn, but he didn't seem too intimidated to hold back his own pointed insults. "You have it easy, then," he said, chuckling lightly. She got to be passively agitated with him, and him still follow her orders. His own aggression wasn't so easy to handle, because he definitely wasn't skilled in the arts of passive aggression.

Ayumi laughed lightly, because in some degrees, that was true. As long as she was just requesting he did what he had to as a Centurion, Satoshi wouldn't be hard to handle. Satoshi actually having to work beside Yoshiki wouldn't be so simple, because she doubted Yoshiki could keep snide comments to himself, and she also doubted Satoshi would be able to take them lying down. "I guess I do," she admitted. "If you just don't say anything mean to him, he'll probably just stay quiet," she said, knowing Satoshi wasn't one to start fights. Although, with Yoshiki, there was a chance of that being different... plus, the boys were probably going to have to train together at some point... Her dad would have to be around for that, because she doubted she or Naomi could pull them off one another if things got too heated.

Yoshiki sighed, shaking his head. Keeping quiet wasn't something he could really do, especially if he came up with something really good. "Easy for you to say," he said, settling his eyes on her with a small smirk. Satoshi needed some obstacles in life, too, he thought. If everyone treated him like an idol, he wouldn't be prepared for the bastards of the world. No matter how nice you were, there were always those who would treat you like crap. This was his fake, 'better' excuse for picking on Satoshi so much. He wasn't sure if it was possible to hold down insults, especially if the moment arose.

Ayumi smiled lightly, shaking her head at him. He really had no self-control, did he? Still, she had some sick part of her actually enjoy the ribbing Yoshiki was putting Satoshi through. After the breakup, people flooded to Satoshi and offered him plenty of sympathy, whether or not he deserved it. Everyone was very quick to jump on Satoshi's side, because despite his cowardly nature, he was still pretty likable to most. So, yes, she took some enjoyment out of seeing him have to deal with snide comments and the like. Her focus shifted as the shrine was in the distance. Well, time to find Yoshiki's weapon.


	7. Chapter 7

It was the next day she had a small moment of genius. Or, at least what she'd consider genius. She was quick to talk to Ms. Shishido, who happily gave her the paperwork and helped her find a room. Normally Ayumi wasn't a fan of any of the teachers, but she found herself warming up to the nice English teacher as she showed no judgement to the idea of her club. Of course, she didn't give away all the information, but with confirmation there would be at least four members, she was allowed to create it.

So, when the bell rang and the students were let out, Ayumi forced her Centurions to meet her at room 3-B. It was admittedly a seemingly abandoned, somewhat dusty room, but Ayumi was just happy they manage to find a classroom, given the fact September would be over soon enough and most clubs were already formed and in control of the better rooms.

Naomi had showed up to the room, this time walking with Satoshi. Yoshiki had been quick to join them too, which was strange to her. He was being strangely punctual for all this... She gave her attention to Ayumi, though, because she really didn't like finding herself caring what that guy did with his life. She looked around the room curiously, figuring this had something to do with their supernatural stuff, but didn't quite know what Ayumi's whole idea was. "So... what is this club for, exactly?" she asked with a puzzled expression, her eyes glancing curiously around the musty room. Eh, beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Paranormal investigation!" Ayumi answered without missing a beat. She was positively beaming, weirdly excited about the entire idea. It was nice to have a private classroom they could discuss such things and the entire organization and establishing the club had given her such a joyful rush. "This way if people are interested in joining, we can have them do a lot of the legwork with finding the closed spaces," she explained as she walked over to a window and pushed it open to let the room clear out a little bit. "And, if anybody has a weird finding or suspicion, they can tell us and we may be able to help," she said, pushing the curtain aside. With the light shining in, the amount of dust was pretty obviously built up. Ahh, they'd have to give the room a good cleanup at some point.

Naomi jumped slightly at her unexpected quick, and joyful sounding answer. Though, after she explained it more in depth, she was a little relieved they would be secretly having students do their searching work. That'd make things easier, especially since combined, the school had thousands of eyes, whereas they only had eight. She was surprised Ayumi had thought up with such a useful idea in a matter of a day. "Oh, I see!" she replied, gaining a small smile that at least that was something that could be checked off her list... Well, at least majority of the work. "That is a pretty efficient way to find the closed spaces," she commented, feeling Ayumi deserved at least a little compliment. She was saving her the work of searching for them, so she really didn't plan on being snappy just yet.

Ayumi didn't really expect any type of compliment, so she was a little thrown off by it. "Yep," she answered, "I figured it's really the only way to do this, if we want to find the closed spaces quicker." She really did want to clean as many closed spaces as possible before the year was up, since she knew she wasn't going to keep the pacts and continue on with Centurions. She had much different dreams than dealing with ghosts for the rest of her life.

"Ahhh... can I ask something?" Satoshi asked, even though it wasn't in his nature to be cynical, he had to ask something. Ayumi gave a small nod, allowing him to ask. "Where are we going to get members?" He could hardly imagine a rush of people coming to join.

"Well, we'll keep an open door policy, first of all," Ayumi explained, not upset by the question at all. "Two, we can always ask friends. The investigation part is safe. As long as they don't go wandering into potential closed space zones, they'll be fine." She was planning on asking Mayu and Sakutaro about it. She wasn't so sure they'd be willing to join, but they were her only friends to speak of.

Naomi considered Ayumi's answer, finding it pretty easy to agree with. "Speaking of friends... I'm sure Seiko would join if I told her about it. She's always looking for new things to do," she spoke, easily imagining this being something Seiko could find enjoyment in. While she always sided with her when she ranted about Ayumi, she doubted she held any real ill will for her, so she probably wouldn't be against joining if she knew she was already in the club. Though, that part would be confusing, and she wouldn't be able to explain why she was in a _paranormal_ club with _Ayumi_... But that was the least of her concerns, especially when Seiko didn't seem to bug her too much if she didn't answer the first time.

Yoshiki was quiet as he took this information in, since he had no friends to speak of, or tell to join. He was certain the others could pull enough people together though, and even if people didn't join, they could still report strange sightings. He was impressed by this idea... it was a pretty convenient thing for them.

Ayumi didn't particularly have an opinion on Seiko, other than she seemed a bit shrill. It was hard not to hear her, even when across the room. Still, more members and more manpower were always a good thing. Even if Seiko was on Naomi's side, such a detail wasn't really too important. It wasn't like they were fighting over Satoshi, they just conflicted. "Alright, then, why don't we call it quits early today so we can try to talk some people into joining," Ayumi suggested. She would probably be able to catch Mayu and Sakutaro before they left school property if she left now. "We'll bring whoever we can to tomorrow's meeting and figure things out from there."

Ayumi's organization was pretty admirable. Admittedly, Satoshi had no plan to ask any friend specifically to join. He wasn't really close enough to anyone that he'd think they'd join just because he was asking. Plus, he didn't feel like being bothered with why he was in a club with his ex... which they'd likely bother him about later, but at least he could postpone the nosy questions. "Sounds good to me," Satoshi said with a light shrug, as if he had people in mind.

Naomi nodded, a little happy to have Seiko around, which would make their tense atmosphere much lighter. Seiko wasn't afraid to say anything to anyone, so that could be interesting, especially with the delinquent around. "Alright. See you tomorrow," she said before leaving, quickly going to find Seiko, since she had told her to wait up a little so they could walk home together.

After Satoshi left, Yoshiki still stood in his normal pose, with his hands in his pockets. He looked to the side, slightly embarrassed to admit such a thing. "I don't... really have anyone to tell." He didn't look back at her after he spoke, feeling it was a little weird to hang around her, but he... wanted to. "I can... help you find people to join, if you want," he added, even though his help may not be wanted. After all, people may be turned away with someone like him in it... Aah, on second thought, maybe he shouldn't help, and just go back home. He'd probably be bad advertising.

Ayumi was a little surprised that Yoshiki wasn't quick to leave, but then he gave his explanation and her heart went out to him. It was an awful thing, to not have any friends to speak of. She'd be in the same situation if Mayu hadn't taken an interest in her. Which still surprised her, considering Mayu was easily one of the most popular people in their grade. "Sure, though there are really only two people I have in mind," she explained with a light smile. "Suzumoto Mayu and Morishige Sakutaro. Do you know them at all?" she inquired as she grabbed her school bag and slung it over her shoulder.

Yoshiki's eyes drifted back over to her, as she seemed to not mind having him around. He was somewhat relieved, that she didn't find it weird and unappealing that he wanted to help her. He considered the names, and while they did ring a bell, he didn't _know_ them. "Uhh... they're in our class, right? That's all I know," he admitted with a small shrug, and that was just from Ayumi calling roll. He didn't know their faces, or how they generally acted. He didn't really need to though... Since they were friends of Ayumi's, he guessed, he didn't need to do any of the talking. He more or less just wanted to tag along, but he couldn't say that out loud. It sounded too strange.

Ayumi wasn't surprised by his lack of knowledge on the two. It would be remedied soon enough. "Yep! They're 2-9ers too," she confirmed as she left the club classroom, locking the door behind her. "They're big into the drama club, so they normally hang out in the auditorium after school," she explained as she headed in said direction. "I'm not really so sure if they'll be willing to join, honestly. Though, if I get Mayu to join, Morishige will definitely follow her," she commented with a small chuckle. He would follow Mayu off the ends of the earth if he could. Though whether that was romantically driven or driven by brotherly feelings, she had no clue. She pushed the doors of the auditorium open, glancing around the large room in search of the two.

Almost as soon as she had walked in the door, Mayu approached with an excited hug, seemingly not noticing Yoshiki came in shortly after her. "Hi Ayu-chan! It's a surprise to see you here!" she commented happily as she freed Ayumi from her embrace, obviously glad her friend had come to see her. Though, usually she didn't come to find her unless she had some sort of boring business to talk about. "So, what do you need?" she asked, eyeing her like she knew something was up.

Ayumi smiled at Mayu, the enthusiastic greeting met with a similar vibe from her. "Hey, Mayu," she greeted with a smile. Ahaha, she already knew Ayumi had a request... she really didn't miss a beat, did she? "Oh, well, uh," Ayumi began to stutter a bit. There were always a few different responses she got when she pulled her occult interest into a conversation. They were rarely any good. "I've started a paranormal investigators club..." she explained, her face going red. "And, ha, I was sorta wondering if you two would have any interest."

Sakutaro came up behind Mayu, looking at Ayumi curiously as she mentioned why she was there. His hand in his pocket gripped his phone a little tighter, but he was going to wait for Mayu's response. His eyes went past the girls temporarily to observe Yoshiki. He was a bit surprised, but he really didn't care why the so-called delinquent was with Ayumi.

Mayu watched Ayumi curiously, holding in a giggle at her red face. True, she wasn't a member of the occult group, but ghosts were interesting! Plus, it was a group with her friend! It couldn't be boring! "Oh, Ayu-chan made a club?" she asked with a smile, laughing lightly, "Heehee, okay! As long as it doesn't conflict with drama club!" Really, that's the only qualm she had with joining Ayumi's club. As long as the schedule was flexible, she would totally try it out! You never knew if something was going to be fun or not if you didn't try!

Ayumi visibly relaxed as Mayu responded cheerfully. She felt a little silly for working herself up. It was't like Mayu had a mean or even slightly rude bone in her body. Ayumi let out a nervous, relieved laugh. "You guys can come around whenever you can," she told them with a smile. She knew the times right before performances would be too hectic for them to probably show up much, but their club wasn't really going to have any strict rules. She glanced over at Sakutaro curiously. "What do you say, Morishige?"

Sakutaro appreciated her asking him, even though they both knew he was a goner for anything Mayu agreed to. "Sure, I suppose," he answered with a small shrug. It wasn't like he was going to be getting any leads in the plays, so he wouldn't mind adding another club onto his list. "Actually, if this is about paranormal occurrences..." he began to say as he pulled his phone out and flicked it open. He took a second to get to the picture, but once he found it, he held it out for Ayumi to see.

Ayumi's eyes widened at the picture. It seemed to be in a food court or restaurant of some sort, but that detail took second seat to the blue figure of a ghost. She could hardly make out any physical appearances, though the size told her instantly it wasn't a child ghost. Her mind was buzzing as she realized they may have found their next closed space.

Mayu made a small noise of happiness as Sakutaro agreed to join too, but was quickly distracted by the picture on his phone. "Uwah, Shige-nii caught a ghost!" she said excitedly, shocked he was already contributing to the club. He was so good at everything! She looked over slightly, just now noticing Yoshiki was also around. She looked to Ayumi, her interest piqued. She leaned in super close, unable to help but change the topic as an interesting question popped into her head. "Did you bring the rebel with you?" she asked with a smile in a whisper, careful not to let anyone else, but maybe Sakutaro if he cared to listen, hear her. "Are you two dating?" she asked with a gleeful tone, hoping she had taken her advice on getting her mind off of Satoshi... even if Yoshiki wasn't the type she thought Ayumi would choose.

Ayumi blinked in confusion as Mayu got really close. Then she asked the question and she wasn't surprised about the curiosity. She nodded lightly that she was why he was there. The next question caught her off guard, her heart lurching at the assumption. She quickly bit down a very loud no, because she didn't want to make a scene. Gah, she was blushing again and she couldn't make it go away. "N-no, it's nothing like that,"she answered quickly and quietly. It may just be easier to explain the actual situation to Mayu and Sakutaro, because once they learned about Naomi and Satoshi in the group, they were really going to start questioning her sanity. She looked at Sakutaro, who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Did he not believe her? She wasn't dating Yoshiki! She wasn't dating unless it was someone out of their school so that she wouldn't have to deal with him if they broke up. "Ah, can you send me that picture, along with the name of the place?" Ayumi asked Sakutaro. He just nodded and began tinkering with his phone to fulfill her request.

Mayu pouted at Ayumi's answer, finding her stutter and blush a little unconvincing. That, and Yoshiki was a loner. She had never really seen him hang around anybody. So why was he with Ayumi? She was about to ask her if she could explain why he was here, not in a rude way, but she was super curious. However, they went on about ghost business. She made a small huff, crossing her arms and giving Ayumi a stern look. "We'll girl talk later!" she said, as if the plans were already set. She was very interested in this sudden development.

Ayumi just nodded lightly at Mayu, because arguing would be futile. It would be easier to set her straight on the matter when they were alone and he wasn't around anyway. She took out her phone, which was buzzing by Sakutaro's text. She opened it and took a good look at the picture. She held it closer to her face, eyes narrowing as she tried to make out the ghost. "So, where is this?"

"A restaurant a few blocks from here. It's called Mikado," Sakutaro answered simply.

"Huh..." Ayumi said thoughtfully, eyes still on the picture. It was pretty hard to catch a ghost in a photo, but she could tell it definitely was one. It was too bad she couldn't make out much beyond the form's outline. She shut her phone, figuring she could search about it online that night. "Well, that's really all I wanted to bother you with. We're having our first official meeting tomorrow, can you two make it?"

"That shouldn't be a problem," Sakutaro answered as he put his own phone away. He was tempted to ask the other members of the group, but he couldn't really bring himself to care enough to pose the question. As long as Mayu was there, he'd be fine.

Mayu smiled at Ayumi, giving a small nod. Tomorrow wasn't a day for drama club, so it should be fine. "Be ready for me to come over later, okay?" she asked with a smile, really impatient to get the details. And if they weren't dating, what her thoughts were about him. The blush had to at least mean she was interested, right? Ooo, she couldn't wait! She loved girl talk... But it'd have to come after drama club, which was going to start pretty soon. "Mm, we gotta go now, though. They're making the announcements for what projects we're doing this year!" she mentioned, giggling, "See ya!" She grabbed Sakutaro's arm and dragged him away, back to the group of the other club members.

* * *

"Knock, knock~!" Seiko said cheerfully before entering Naomi's room. She had been a bit surprised to get a text asking her to come over, but she would never deny her sweet Naomi! "So, what's happening?" she asked curiously, looking over Naomi as if trying to figure out what may have changed between the end of school and then. "Ohmygosh, did Satoshi finally ask you out!?" Seiko quickly asked excitably. That boy really needed to make a move, since it was so painfully obvious he was interested in her busty best friend.

Naomi brightened as Seiko came into her room, swinging her legs over the side of her bed to completely face her. She gave her a flat look at her guess. Ugh, that's all she ever talked about, wasn't it? "_No_... I was wondering if you wanted to try out a club with me," she corrected, hoping Seiko would agree, since she didn't want to be stuck in there with Ayumi without her best friend. Yeah, she had Satoshi, her friend since seventh grade, but he was so submissive to Ayumi. He wouldn't stop her from verbally battering her, so it would be nice to have some back up at least half of the time.

Seiko wasn't surprised to hear Satoshi still hadn't made a move. He really was hopeless. She perked at the mention of joining a club, tilting her head. "Sure! I've always wanted to join a club!" Seiko agreed without hesitation. If Naomi was there and interested, surely it was going to be fun. "What's it about?" she asked as she came over to Naomi and sat next to her on her bed. Even if it was a sports club, Seiko would happily participate. She loved seeing Naomi in gym, after all!

Naomi smiled at her answer, but grew a little worried as she asked for what it was about. She would think it was so weird that she 'joined' such a club... And she couldn't just tell her the truth, about all this Centurion nonsense... Ugh, all she could do was hope it didn't deter her from joining. "Paranormal... investigation..," she said with an innocent smile, her fingers intertwining nervously. Any club she joined, though, Seiko would most likely get into just because she was there, but still, she couldn't help but feel anxious at her judgments. She didn't blame her. She had never been interested in ghosts, and she'd be even more confused if she knew that Ayumi was the club president.

"Eh?" Seiko stared at Naomi in confusion. Out of all the clubs she was imagining, she could honestly say that nothing along those lines entered her mind. Naomi never seemed interested in supernatural junk. Honestly, the only person Seiko could think of that was interested is Ayumi... "You're not... trying to attract Satoshi to you by acting like the class rep, are you?" she asked in genuine concern because that would be a terrible idea. Especially considering Ayumi and Satoshi's relationship seemed to have crashed and burned. "Because you really don't need to," Seiko assured her.

Naomi panicked at Seiko's response, shaking her head. "No no! Nothing like that!" she said, waving her hands. Who wanted to be like _Ayumi_? Besides, Satoshi didn't like her anymore... or so, she assumed. Ayumi was technically the one to break things off, but she had guessed Satoshi didn't like her anymore either. She better be right, or she'd be pissed. She also thought it was a bad idea to mention that Satoshi was also in the club, which would make it look like she was just joining because he was in it. "Trust me, it's _not_ that," she repeated, making sure her answer was taken seriously.

Seiko nodded lightly, figuring Naomi was being honest. After all, the two had had many talks over the negatives of Ayumi and why the hell Satoshi would even be interested in her. Not that Seiko had much ill-will towards her personally, but she unknowingly resulted in a few awful months for Naomi, so Seiko couldn't say she much liked the girl. "Alright... then... mind explaining to me the sudden interest in the paranormal?" Seiko asked curiously. She'd follow Naomi into the club with or without a good explanation, but if she could get one, she wasn't going to deny herself that.

Naomi was glad Seiko believed her, but found her next question puzzling. She assumed Ayumi didn't want her spouting out all that supernatural stuff, so she'd just have to be vague, and make... a little white lie. "Err, well... I thought it could be... fun...?" she said with an unsure smile, her answer sounding more like a question, since she didn't really know her real reply, or rather, couldn't come up with a convincing one. She'd just have to seem like she was going into it to try something new, but that explanation would be soon destroyed when she learned who the rest of the members were.

Seiko couldn't find herself completely satisfied with that answer, but if Naomi was hiding something, it would probably be revealed soon enough. She really wasn't one to press such things. "Hehe, alrightie! It sounds like it may be fun!" Seiko said with a grin. Ghost stories and such were probably going to be a foundation, and she loved seeing other people scared! Plus, being scared yourself could always be fun too. Either way, with Naomi there, she knew she'd have a good time as a paranormal investigator!

Naomi smiled, thankful she didn't reconsider. "Good!" she said, her relief evident in her tone. Why she was relieved was unknown to Seiko, but she didn't care. She wouldn't have to be around Ayumi so long without back up! She was so glad, because she really hadn't liked the scolding she had received from her the day before. She had been so harsh to her, even though she wasn't used to all this closed space thing. How was she not supposed to be scared stiff? Ayumi was used to this, because she had been training for it, but she was thrown into it all of the sudden. Of course she was no help yet! Ugh, thinking about it was only getting her agitated, so she decided to leave the thought alone.


End file.
